Pro Payne: From 1 to 50 in M.A. (suggest arcs!)

Pro Payne is currently level 32, and is about to "ding" to level 33. Just got finished playing the Consequences of War duo: here's a very brief summary of my thoughts. WARNING: My thoughts are *not* spoiler free!

Pros: Great story, with lots of neat little touches that I really liked. The inability to understand the Rikti until you finally get a decoder was neat, and I found the NPC characters throughout entertaining. Kudos to the author for minimizing the amount of "NPC help" (only a fraction of the NPC heroes you interact with actually become allies, and, at least in my play experience, the ones who did usually were picked up near the end of a particular mission where they tended to not get in my way or 'steal the glory' - along with lots of XP and tickets). It was a great way to have plenty of NPC hero interaction without them consistently stealing the spotlight. And since they made frequent apparences without irritating me, I actually did care, and feel a tinge of regret, at the end, when they meet their ultimate fate. Good use of clues and in mission dialog, and interesting mission design: some got on the long side (again, as always, IMO), but overall I thought the pacing was very good. Very solid arcs overall! I definitely enjoyed playing them!

Cons: Most of these can honestly be chalked up to personal taste (and to be fair, many of these observations are no longer valid since the author has already made some changes to the missions); it's not hard to see at all that other players might very much enjoy the things that I didn't. First, the difficulty was a bit too high for me: that's not entirely the author's fault. One of my biggest pet peeves in this game overall is the inability to have bosses spawn as bosses unless you up the difficulty, which I do, because I like the challenge of not fighting bosses. I'm sincerely hoping that I16's new difficulty options include settings that let me have bosses on heroic. In any case the Rikti can be a tough group on tenacious or higher (either you get more of them, or they're higher level which makes the drones and anything with a guardian spawned shield an annoyance to hit). But none of that is really anything I held against the author - my difficulty setting is my own personal choice. However, one of my pet peeves in AE missions is the strong tendency by many, many authors to give really difficult foes ambush spawns (which can get *really* dicey with the rikti if comm officers show up in the ambush, and oh they do...) I'm certainly not adverse to challenge, but a Rikti Heavy Assault suit, or the EB version of an AV is already a fun challenge; it's just my opinion, but I find the addition of an ambush just kind of pushes it over the edge from 'fun challenge' to frustrating, especially if the ambush is the reason you were defeated in what would have otherwise been a narrow victory (which did happen once or twice). I did find one of the mission (#2 in arc 2) to be overly long, but that's also personal taste (but hey, they're my thoughts on the arc after all) - the author did say that plenty of players actually liked the length of that mission, and I certainly believe him. Finally, I did encounter one bug that is hopefully fixed - I quite suddenly failed mission #4 in arc 2, with no clear indication as to why I failed. It was a timed mission, but it had an hour long timer when I played it, and I'd maybe been in the mission five minutes before it failed. It was a pity too, because it actually seemed like it would have been a fun mission to play through!

Now for what might be a bit controversial, although I have seen others in these forums leaning toward this approach as well (albeit perhaps for different reasons). Unless the arc is just plain terrible, I've started giving it one extra star beyond what I would have given it. In my "play lists" I'll list the "true" star rating I gave the arc, but in game I rate them one higher (which, if you look at my voting record, means that from this point on, the majority of the arcs I play that are recommended to me will probably get five stars in game). This is partially because of my increasing frustration with the "effects" if you will of the rating system. Most of my own arcs have started out five starred, and through the action of hard graders (which I'm fine with), people who just didn't like the arc (which I'm also fine with), and griefers (which I'm not fine with), they end up with four stars. The problem is I've noticed the moment any of my own arcs hit four stars, the frequency with which they get played goes into the toilet. Even going through the list of arcs Pro Payne has played, I've noticed lots of arcs that I thought were very good, that just don't seem to have gotten many plays over the last few months, ostensibly because arcs that have maintained five stars get most of the attention. Perhaps others have had a different experience, but I go on my own experiences, and I'm finding that to be a very frustrating aspect of the effect of rating arcs. Yes, on one side, I really would like the rating system to mean something, but until they find a way to deal with griefing, and until they find a way (perhaps a modification of the search system) that encourages the *average* player to at least look at arcs that are not five starred (because it certainly seems like that's not the case right now), I'm feeling it is important to (1) do what I can to help counteract the effect of the griefers, and (2) do what I can to avoid having arcs I actually enjoyed playing vanish into obscurity. As much as I'd like to be able to give an arc that I think deserves 4 stars the rating I think it deserves, I don't want that rating to result in a drastic decrease in the number of people willing to play the arc. So, like I said, for now, I intend to give in game ratings one star higher than what I report their rating as here.

Alright, here's an updated version of my "play list" (in most cases I gave questionables five stars, after the feedback posts that suggested many of the arcs in my list that were not showing rating had probably been rated five stars - since, to be fair, in most cases if I replayed and re-rated an arc, it was to see if improvements posted by the author really would prompt me to increase my rating from 4 to 5 stars).

(“Officially 5 stars”)
Johnny Sonata and the Hitmen (1001, 4 stars)
The Butterfly Effect (2965, 3 stars)
Welcome to Architect Entertainment (1004, 3 stars)
The Footsteps Initiative (2291, 5 stars) Recommended Very funny and entertaining to play.
The Return of the Lizard People (2974, 4 stars)
The Perfect Brew (2007, 4 stars)
Cats and Lizards (88842, 4 stars)
Teen Phalanx Forever (67335, 5 stars) Recommended One of the best arcs I’ve played overall, IMO.
Speeding Through Time (51728, 5 stars) Recommended Very neat story!
The Burning of Hearts (2260, 5 stars) Recommended One of the best stories I’ve played overall, IMO.
A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings (61866, 5 stars)
The Consequences of War, Part II (241496, 4 stars)
Ghost In The Machine, Act I (????, 5 stars)

(“Officially 4 stars”)
Future Imperfect (10931, 4 stars*official rating)
The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samuri Vampiresses from Outer Space (61013, 5 stars)
Pandas vs. Rikti (68930, 4 stars) Recommended Interesting story and custom group.
Facing the Darkness (89438, 4 stars)
Death to Disco! (84420, 4 stars)
The Fanboy’s Fleece (91836, 5 stars)
Ctrl + Alt + Reset! Aka Time Loop (137561, 5 stars) Recommended Very neat story! Cool “gimmick”
The Age of Aquarius (79061, 2 stars)
Rise of the Drakule (51357, 5 stars) Recommended Very neat and funny story! Great custom foes!
Getting to Know Crey Financial: The Teaser (1034, 3 stars)
Sub Hero Inc. – Technology Operation (1541, 3 stars)
Rumble with Beef Cake (1070, 3 stars)
Gnomish Madness (30204, 4 stars)
The “Easter Basket” (35334, 4 stars)
Save the Spiderlings! (13986, 5 stars) Recommended Very quick story; found it surprisingly humorous for such a simple concept.
Trademark Infringement (2220, 5 stars)
What Happens IN CyberSpace Stays In The Recycle Bin!!! (17030, 3 stars)
Bricked Electronics (2180, 5 stars) Recommended Very good story!
The Missing (37636, 4 stars)
Dream Paper (1874, 5 stars) Recommended Very good story!
Sub Hero Inc. – Double Helix (12179, 3 stars)
Welcome to the Legion of Valor! (5676, 3 stars)
The Wool Over One’s Eyes ver 2.90 (1033, 5 stars)
To Serve Cookie (2646, 4 stars)
Small Fears (12285, 5 stars) Recommended Very good story!
The Decryption (188282, 3 stars)
Assault on Aru Prime (174586, 3 stars)
Fighting Freedom (177930, 5 stars)
The Audition Part One (221240, 5 stars) Recommended Very good story will well-done humor!
Duality (84105, 3 stars)
King of Thieves Part 1: All Hell’s Breaking Loose (76190, 5 stars) Recommended Very good story!
Hero Thearpy! ™ (119228, 5 stars) Recommended Very good story!
Sukiyaki Rumble (158629, 3 stars)
Santa’s Workshop of Misfit Toys (134140, 5 stars)
The Monster Hop (27861, 4 stars)
Ruturn of the Revenge of the Son of Drakule Part 2: First Blood (84543, 4 stars) Recommended Very good story!
The Crazy Clown (93574, 4 stars)
The Lazarus Project* (124906, 4 stars*official rating) “Pseudo”Recommended (I wrote it! Don't take this recommendation too seriously!)
Everlasting Life (108335, 4 stars) Recommended Very interesting custom group!
Kiss Hello Goodbye (156389, 4 stars) Recommended Really liked the feel!
Brokering the Brikers (37724, 4 stars)
The Paradox Raid (67566, 4 stars)
Trollbane (106553, 3 stars)
Shenanigans on Striga (91644, 3 stars)
Cracking Skulls* (115935, 4 stars*official rating)
The Second Coming of the Mega Mech (122274, 5 stars) Recommended Good story mixed with very neat custom group!
What are we doing tonight Iggy? (34399, 2 stars)
Invasion of the Samurai (93272, 2 stars)
Adventures in Arkham (139180, 3 stars)
Intrigue in The Arcana (14160, 1 star)
Found and Lost (1147, 3 stars)
The Amulet of J’gara (1709, 5 stars)
Blowback (4643, 4 stars)
Matchstick Women (3369, 5 stars)
Jumping in feet first (1345, 4 stars)
Hero Corps: To Russia With Intrigue! (6583, 2 stars)
Sgt. Hoolihan and the Missing Pants (1125, 4 stars)
In Her Own Image V 3.35 (2085, 4 stars)
Zombies have the Cheerleaders! Something about Purify Sacrifice? (22908, 3 stars)
In The Shadow Of The Towers (1402, 4 stars)
Every Rose… (17702, 3 stars)
A Little RnR (17523, 3 stars) Recommended Interesting and complex custom group, but be prepared for a difficult fight!
Hell Comes to Paragon (18109, 4 stars) Recommended Interesting take on the Hellions.
KIT’s Chaos (193782, 3 stars)
Learning The Ropes* (100304, 4 stars*official rating)
Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons (100045, 5 stars) Wonderfully done custom group!
Meet the Demon Spawn (151099, 4 stars)
Hunter of Beasts: It starts with a riot… (110465, 5 stars)
The Hijacking of the Kumo Maru (35050, 2 stars)
Finding The Lost Leaders (4639, 2 stars)
Hall Hath No Fury (52817, 3 stars)
First Encounter (56311, 2 stars)
By Any Means (199400, 4 stars)
Final Exam: a Chibi Strike Force (106283, 3 stars)
Destined Champion of the Multiverse (128476, 4 stars)
Into the Screaming Void (164437, 2 stars)
Paragon City Sheriffs Department Qualifying Simulation-Part 3 (165788, 2 stars)
The Consequences of War, Part I (227331, 4 stars)
The Audition, Part II (????, 5 stars)
Pagkagising ng Kaluluwa (230100, 4 stars)
Drakule Armageddon 5: This Time It's Personal (257242, 5 stars)
A Tangle In Time (2622, 3 stars)
Eclipse Over Paragon (64609, 5 stars)
The History of Statesman (219484, 4 stars)
Celebrity Kidnapping (1388, 5 stars)
Of Papers and Paychecks (298290, 5 stars)
A Close Encounter (233720, 3 stars)
MacGuffin Delivery Service (1567, 5 stars)

(“Officially 3 stars”)
Low Tide (1154, 3 stars)
Cosplay Madness (3643, 4 stars) Recommended First time I saw a mission set to “spawn” mid-mission.
Collecting the Evil Doctor’s Debt (17482, 4 stars)
On the Streets (2947, 2 stars)
Defeat Liscku (50643, 1 star)

Current Queue:
2622, 219484, 64609, and the third "Rise of the Drakule" arc. Also I intend to play Space Nut's recommended arc, but that'll be on a different character.

Ratings listed here are my honest appraisal of how good I thought the arc was. In game ratings are one higher than listed here. This is to help combat two issues I have with the rating system: even three and four star arcs, which should be "good enough" to warrant attention seem to suffer a significant reduction in plays which is counter to the idea that more ratings gives you a more accurate picture of the true 'general appeal' of the arc, and 1-star griefing is far, far more common on good arcs than an arc getting 'five starred' without someone playing it - IMO something needs to be done to counter that and get an arc closer to its 'true' rating.

Finally, Recommended denotes arcs that really stood out for some reason or another (and yes, any arc that I gave a rating of 3 or more stars can potentially be 'recommended' - my overall rating is my impression of how much I enjoyed the story, the gameplay mechanics, the arc design, etc. But with 'recommended' there's something in the arc that I think is worth checking out, even if I thought other parts of the arc could have used a lot more polish. That said, there are plenty of arc's I've recommended that I did think were worth 5 stars.

Wow, yay for the much-relaxed editing of previous posts. Extreme boo for the limits on the numbers of images I can put in a post.

I've edited the above list to include new arcs Pro Payne has played - and replaced my old smilies with Recommended tags (as you can see, I missed a few). My plan is to update that list into the near future, rather than re-posting it over and over again.

Update
Pro Payne made it to 34 over the weekend. (See the above post if you want to know what his current queue is)

A few brief notes on the arcs that are 'recent additions' (and apologies for ones that I don't have an ID for - I'll correct that as soon as the servers come back up).

The Audition, Part II (5 stars, also gave 5 stars in game). I've actually very much enjoyed both parts of this series. Very well done - humor can always be 'iffy', but the author's humor certainly clicked with me. At the same time I really enjoyed the overall story. I thought the fact the humming mummers had thermal as their secondary was a bit odd - just couldn't think of an 'in story' reason for that (sonic resonance would have made more sense to me), but I didn't object to the choice in terms of gameplay: I actually hate the sonic resonance set because my character is resistance-based...

Pagkagising ng Kaluluwa (4 stars, gave 5 stars in game). Neat custom group - challenging, but not overwhelmingly so. Definitely not something you'd want to take on much below the posted level range, so be warned. My only real complaint was I did seem to have trouble following the story. Part of that may have just been me - who knows, perhaps I was having an off day. But I do think that the narrative style factored into it a bit as well: it's clear that you are playing an AE simululation of something that some other hero did in the game's 'real world' (or at least that's what I got from it). For some odd reason, the fact that the mission text kept switching between references to what you were supposed to be doing in the mission (and what the 'setup' of the mission was) and how that mission was handled in 'the real world' certainly contributed to my difficulty in following the story as well as I would have liked. One more technical issue: I love reading mob descriptions, but the author's choice to give the mobs super reflexes seriously interfered with that. The particular problem is the focused senses power that grants both ranged attack protection and a major perception boost. As a result the mobs would aggro onto me the moment I saw them: I'd have to fight and kill them (quickly - they're *not* pushovers), instead of reading their 'bios.' Mostly the bios I read were those of defeated minions who hadn't yet faded out - I ended up missing bios for nearly all the lt's, and all of the named bosses.

Ghost In The Machine, Act I: (5 stars, both for real and in game) This arc certainly lived up to the hype. I loved the story, loved the machine design and progression. It's worth saying that when the purpose of the arc is to find a way to 'save' someone who is a potential romantic interest for your character, making the character you're trying to save likeable is very important, and the author did an excellent job: I wanted to save Dani. Excellent arc!

(Note that I did attempt the second arc, but couldn't complete it. That's going to have to wait until either the end boss gets a bit of editing, or until I'm near level 50 and, potentially have more non fire based attacks. There are likely lots of builds out there that can take him, but a fire scrapper trying to take on a boss with a large fraction of the fire shield set - including the heal - just wasn't going to work out well. Sorry Dani ! I'm holding off rating this arc until I can complete it.)

Pro Payne's slow march to level 50 continues. He just reached level 35. Here are some of the recent arcs he's played, and my comments/notes:

Mentioned "One Last Time": Because I do not want my in-game ratings to decrease an arcs visibility (I want people to play and rate arcs; the more plays/ratings, the better), and because I want to counter the effects of griefers who 1 star arcs, in-game I always rate your arcs 1 higher than reported here, unless I've given you 5 stars here (I can't give you six in game), or 1 star here (It's very rare for me to give 1 star - the arc truly has to be horrible, IMO, and it's one of the very rare cases where I wouldn't want to subject others to the arc, and where I'd posit that any griefing isn't actually artificially lowering the rating of the arc.)

So remember, what I report below, you got one star higher in game!

(Oh, and in case you're wondering if I'm ever going to add Recommended to any of the more recent arcs I've played, the answer is yes - but sort of the 'trick' here is I like to wait a while, and then see which arcs really stand out in my memory, and go back and give them a recommendation.)

Drakule Armageddon 5 (Gotta update this one when an arc ID and its full title once the servers come back online. 5 stars.) The third in @LaserJesus's Drakule series, these arcs have been some of my favorate, played by both Pro Payne and some of my other characters. Although humor arcs, in my opinion they have just enough seriousness to keep you interested in the 'story', yet more than enough lighthearted humor to be very entertaining. On top of that, the custom mob design has been very, very good in all three arcs - this one is no different. This arc introduces the Drakule Hunters, and, like the other customs in the series, they are very well done visually, with good (albeit short) descriptions, and well chosen power sets - they've got variety, but never seemed overwhelming. My only criticisms are either minor nitpicks, or have already been addressed by the author. They were: there was a boss that spawned +5 in the final mission (beaten with copious inspiration use and a few trips to the hospital) - that's already been fixed by the author. The other is just a minor nitpick about mob design. While is certainly makes thematic sense for the vampire mobs (including Drakule) to be able to fly, my suggestion to the author would be to at least consider removing that ability, especially for Drakule himself, at least until the glorious day comes (if it ever comes) that the mob AI makes things a little more willing to stand and fight. The issue I ran into is that fly only seems to come into play, in practice, when the mob runs away, which just increases the annoyance factor that the mob just ran away from you (and can get really annoying with someone like Drakule who has a stealth power, and can easily vanish somewhere in the large, cavernous room he spawns into when he decides it's time to run like a little girly-vampire). For me one of the more anti-climactic parts of the whole arc was having to strap on a jet pack and fly around the room randomly until I "bumped into" Drakule so that I could resume the fight. But, like I said, a minor nit in an arc that I otherwise greatly enjoyed.

A Tangle In Time (#2622, 3 stars) With the exception of a battle in the final mission where two rather tough elite bosses spawned in right next to each other, the technical aspects of this arc, and even the basic aspects of the story were well done; I did enjoy playing the arc. So why three stars (four in game, of course)? This is one of those cases where, in my opinion, there seemed to be too many plot holes and omissions (and one "forced action" that I found distasteful) for my taste. Let me be more specific. (Warning, some spoilers as to the arc's plot follow...) In a nutshell, a rather minor Circle of Thorns functionary is using a magical artifact that traps people in a time loop. In essence, the CoT villain is "torturing" people with these time loops in order to bully them into "meeting his demands." What struck me as really unclear was what exactly these demands were - yes, he did want Pro Payne to beat up the Paragon Police who were harassing him, but was that it? Are his demands fairly petty, low-level stuff (beat up these cops for me, instead of helping them out)? That might actually make for an interesting plot point - the villain has all of this power, but lacks the imagination to really turn it into a major scheme and is just busying himself with petty bullying. Or is there a much grander, more sinister plot afoot here? Is he building up a whole army of "time slaves" - of heroes forced to become villains, driven insane by being trapped in these time loops - that he will later unleash on the city? Does he have any plans to do anything super-villain-like with said army of time slaves (assuming that's what he's up to)? The bottom line is the arc kind of hints that the villain's got "demands" and "big plans", but never really indicates what they are; perhaps that was by design, but, in my opinion it left a kind of "what was the point of the arc" gap? Note that in mission four, where you actually invade the guy's lair, there'd be a perfect place to put some collectable 'clues' that might give some insight into what the villain is really trying to accomplish by trapping heroes in time loops (or, perhaps, make it very clear that he's really far more of a small-time thug than he sees himself, and just doesn't have any real plans - he's too small minded to use these time loops for anything other than, in effect, bullying heroes into committing petty criminal acts).

The other issue I had here was in the third mission - here the CoT villain gives you his one and only demand of the arc: attack the police in the mission rather than the CoT. He claims it's the only way he'll let you out of the time loop. Here's the problem: beating on the police certainly gets Azuria's attention (she's the mission contact), but it isn't that that convinces her your in some sort of time loop - it's the fact you've got multiple copies of that amulet she keeps giving you. Which means you didn't actually need to beat up the police (which, in this context only serves an an excuse to create a sense of urgency for mission four - you've got to infiltrate the CoT villain's lair before the police find you and haul your butt in). It really has made me wonder if there's a way to set up mission three so that attacking and defeating the police is optional? For example, defeating the two police bosses gets you the "standard" mission complete, and triggers the story as is, but skipping them and "examining" the artifact spawns in the CoT villain, which gives you the idea to start a fight with him, but allow him to flee (he'll flee at 90% health, for example) rather than defeat him (since defeating him always prompts him to just go ahead and trigger the next time loop), and then follow him back to his lair after the mission "fails" (complete with plenty of text in the debriefing and the popup window making it very clear you didn't really fail the mission)? It's just an idea, but might make for an interesting addition since you'd have more 'choice' over your actions in mission three.

Okay, one last nit (certainly not a major issue for me) - in the first mission, the officer with the club actually says that he's going to 'stay put and keep an eye out for more trouble' - but he actually follows you around for the rest of the mission.

Again, overall I enjoyed the arc - it's just that what seemed to be plot omissions led to it feeling kind of incomplete for me...

...but if I had a few problems with the plot of A Tangle in Time, I certainly didn't with the author's next arc:

Eclipse over Paragon (#64609, 5 stars)
For this arc, I only had two minor nits - the rest I found to be fun, with a story that I really enjoyed.

So let me start out with everything I liked! Like I said - I thought it was a very well done, enjoyable story, and one that was very plausable even in context of the game's canon. Loved the custom mobs - from the 'weak' warwolves, to the deranged citizens and the 'warwolf' longbow, to the modified council robots intended to disperse the 'nictus mist.' I thought the mission design and pacing was very good, with an excellent mix of very short, easy missions (that still had a point in advancing the story) along with longer, more involved missions. Like I said, I very much enjoyed the arc and the story it told!

Here are the nits, and like I said, they're minor (minor enough that I still thought this arc deserved five stars).

In the second mission, the boss that spawned in was a Wolfpak robot, yet he was labelled Archon something-or-other. THAT seemed weird - I didn't know if this was supposed to be a nod to the plot masterminds abilities with mek technology and AI (the robot had a full-fledged, fully sentient AI and had risen through the ranks to become an Archon), or if it was just an oversight.

Then, in the third mission (I think it was the third one - it was the outdoor mission), I noticed in my clues list a reference to an archon that I'd defeated whose clothes were soaked with nictus serum, yet he hadn't shown any signs of mutation. Story wise, the intent was to make it clear the Council had an antidote (or vaccine) to their own serum - the problem was either that clue was attached to the wrong objective (I think I got it after defeating one of those modified robots, although it might have been after I beat the first of the longbow warwolves), or I actually managed to quickly fight and defeat a council archon and not even realize I was in a boss fight (seems unlikely, but I guess it's *possible* I wasn't paying enough attention and literally thought the boss was a lt or something)...


Okay, that's it for this week's update. In addition to monitoring this thread for any more suggestions, (and, ultimately, updating my master list of 'arcs played'), I'm going to play the History of Statesman arc, make a foray into trying out random arcs based on the results of keyword searches, and (when I get the chance) try out the arc Space Nut suggested.

Just a minor note, Drakule doesn't have stealth. I removed it in I15 because some people reported not seeing his character model. In the third arc he does have the reflection effects fly, which does make him see-through, but he should still be perfectly visible to people without perception.

Thanks again for the run through! Sorry again about the +5 boss. I tested it when I first made it and it spawned at a lower level. For some reason they seem not to be doing that anymore.

Level 35 would be a good level for either or both of:

1388 Celebrity Kidnapping - kidnap a rich celebutante for fun and profit!

298290 Papers and Paychecks - give up a life of crime to "get a real job" at Crey Industries!

Level 35? Then it's time to play "MacGuffin Delivery Service" (#1567) if you haven't already. The whole issue with Carnies not spawning below 40 for heroes ought to be resolved now. Let me know if it still happens, so I can be angry at the Devs some more.

If you're level 35 you should ba able to take on "The Bestest Radio Mission Ever." (#1526) Though your character may not get it, since they've not done any radio missions.

Hey, 35 should be within range for my high level arc, 1589, "Of Mentors and Legacy". Depending on how you feel about CoT ghosts you may want to wait until 40 (it's only an "issue" in one mission though).

Thanks! :grin:

'Ey,

<shameless_plug>
If you don't mind campy Silver Age-esque stuff (mad science! ice cream that licks back!), feel free to give my arc, "The Coldest of Wars" a whirl. ID is #299972, and it should be pretty soloable (there is a controller-type EB in the last mission, but if you're solo and playing at difficulty 1-2, it should downgrade to a manageable boss). Level range is 40+, but it shouldn't be TOO bad for lower levels either.
</shameless_plug>


-- Z.

Well, you could always try my arc, Two Great Tastes (detailed info in the thread my sig links to), it's a little out there, and it's based primarily off a meme to begin with (specifically, "I assure you, my good man, Nemesis is most certainly 'down with the street.' Word up, my homie, as it were."), but I happen to think (and I've gotten a couple of concurring opinions) that it's engaging, and provides a challenge without being too diffucult (though I'd solo it if I were you, I don't know how my custom NPCs fare against large groups).

PROTIP: Keep your stun protection up, I noticed that I have a LOT of stun (and stun procs) in my custom group (and more than a little sleep, though almost all of the sleep is from low-percentage procs, so I doubt it will ever be a problem).

EDIT: I'd also recommend you have at least your seventh primary power before playing the arc, a smooth attack chain is probably a good idea for my arc, it's definitely not for low-level characters.

Time for the weekly Pro Payne update!

Pro Payne just reached level 36, which, as happens every five levels or so, means he's about to switch to his 'normal citizen dressed in tights' build and do five scanner missions and a safeguard to get the temp power - that does mean that there will be a (hopefully) short delay before he's back to his 'pretending to be a fire scrapper in MA' build. I've added the latest two requests to his queue, which sits right now at:

1526, 1589, 296884, 311775, and 299972 (With Space Nut's arc, 262739 on the back-burner for either when I need to take a break from Pro Payne and play my villain again - or the launch of Issue 16 where Pro Payne can hopefully still earn XP even when playing missions that auto-exemplar him: so do be patient Space Nut - I *will* get to your arc!)

Here's the latest round of mini-reviews:

Celebrity Kidnapping (1388, 5 stars)
Pro Payne found himself 'role playing' a villain engaged in a kidnapping scheme against Paris Holiday, noted reality TV celebrity.
Pros: Yet again we have a very entertaining and very well designed arc by Police Woman, with interesting mission design, very creative custom foes (the paparazzi were really well done, and it was quite refreshing to actually get to fight convicts who weren't worth an XP pittance), and excellent pacing. I was never bored, enjoyed all of the missions, and really have to compliment Police Woman on an excellent example of the right way to do a 'character cameo' (Police Woman actually makes appearances in the arc, to help try to stop you - it makes perfect since for her to be there in the context of the story, and I didn't find her in any way overpowered or annoying to try to defeat).
Cons: Really none that I can think of. I honestly think the only suggestion that might slightly improve the entertainment value of the arc would be if it was possible to add some text in the mission debriefings or perhaps some of the clues to make it seem even more like Paris is so much of a 'lives in her own world, spoiled brat, separated from reality' celebrity that actually holding her is just more trouble than its worth - that feeling is already in the arc, and slight modifications to make it even more pronounced might possibly improve the humor aspect of the arc a bit. But again, I want to make it clear that this is certainly not an arc that I felt 'needed improvement' - it is an excellent arc and very deserving of the five stars I gave it IMO.

Of Papers and Paychecks (298290, 5 stars)
Pro Payne, ironically, gives up his 'life of crime' (again, role played, as he's actually a hero) to join Crey.
Pros: This is one of the best arcs I've played in the MA system. Extremely creative, excellent basic concept, excellent mission design and pacing, very good use of custom mobs (with excellent examples of mobs introduced as 'additions' to an already existing group: some so cleverly done that you might miss they're actually custom mobs), with a very well done (and player choice directed) plot twist at the end (albeit one that I did see coming, but still enjoyable to play). With Pro Payne I chose the 'good hearted' ending (since he's really a hero); but I'm looking forward to playing this one with my villain, and choosing the 'bad hearted' ending.
Cons: I honestly can't think of anything I really objected to in this arc, and can't think of any suggestions that would improve it - it's one of those rare arcs that, while other MArcers might be able to suggest something to make it even better, I'm coming up with nothing.

A Close Encounter (#233720, 3 stars)
Pro Payne joins (what I think) is some sort of special forces government division tasked with cleaning up an alien encounter and possible alien invasion.
Pros: The actual mission design and pacing was solid enough - there was really nothing that struck me as a poor choice, or unfun. Both types of custom mobs seemed well balanced overall; while the web grenades did get excessive at times, it wasn't enough to really bother me or really make me feel the arc needed to be graded down for mob balance. I was genuinely interested in following the story - although I do admit that there were good and bad aspects to that (with the good aspect being that I actually like 'alien encounter' stories, so was interested to see where this one was going).
Cons: ...but if there was any one word I could use to describe the feel of the arc's story, it was 'disjointed.' Frankly there were a lot of plot elements that seemed tacked on, or even downright arbitrary, and other things that would have been helpful to the plot, but notably missing. First, understand that I'm well aware of the fact that one aspect of MA is to write stories about things that are in no way related to the 'CoH universe' - and that's fine, but it can also be very risky, and, IMO this arc is an example. Why? Well, there's really no connection to the rest of the CoH universe, which compounds the disjointed feeling I got when then arc started and I just found myself suddenly working for this 'special forces' group (or whatever they were). There was no sense they'd just contacted me or anything of that nature - it was as if I'd been working for them all along, but even that fact was more implied than stated (nothing like 'ah, Pro Payne, our most valuable field operative. Welcome back!' to start the arc, or 'Allow me to introduce myself and explain why I've contacted you...' - at least that I can remember). The other primary complaint is the plot twists just struck me as too heavy handed - the plot started out making sense: I've rescued an alien covertly from an anti-alien group, and it turns out there are clues that I uncover later that lead to what appears to be an planned invasion from this group. But then, it turns out that it was really all a big misunderstanding, and the aliens wanted peace all along (it was a peaceful mission), and the anti-alien group has really been under the domination of the aliens all along.

...Huh? For lack of a better way to describe it, it just seems like the plot needs to be re-written a little to be somewhat smoother - to flow a little better.

Finally, while the Earth For Humans group struck me as just fine visually, I really do think that the aliens (the Squeeg?) could be helped out with a little more 'visual variety' - I certainly acknowledge that we've got height and body type variations, but the fact that they're all wearing basically featureless 'tights' of different colors, while pretty consistent with many folks' visualizations of what aliens would look like (seriously, why do we all think aliens are going to have really boring clothes, because that does seem to be a recurrent stereotype), does make them kind of boring looking, which does make them somewhat boring to fight ('cause half the fun of custom mobs is lookin' at them!). They could definitely use some 'Rikti treatment' (i.e. a bit of a costume change to give them a more varied look than they once had).

MacGuffin Delivery Service (#1567, 5 stars)
Pro Payne robs a pawn shop, only to uncover something that he can't seem to get rid of.
Pros: What really stands out about this arc is excellent use of clues - it isn't just that you focus on what ultimately ends up being the main plot item, the arc does an excellent job of making you feel like you really are looting a pawn shop looking for valuables to hock, and in the third mission, like you really are searching for a book that will be of use to you, yet you find a nice, varied mix of things while looking for your objective. Touches like that go a long way toward making the missions feel more 'alive' - it avoids the feel that the only purpose of the mission map is as a place to store your mission objective. I can say similar things about the 'incidental characters' - the arc does have plenty of characters in it that are not necessarily directly related to the plot (although some end up getting snagged into the main plot anyway) that you just happen to run across as the story unfolds. Note that that isn't a requirement of telling a good story, but when done well and appropriately it can enhance a story, and this arc is a good example of 'incidentals' being used very well. The arc's also good a very good sense of pacing, and 'build' - the mission do get progressively harder and more action packed overall, but it's a gradual increase that (in my opinion) didn't involve really jarring jumps in difficulty (and yes, I truly did enjoy the chaos of the last mission - it seemed a very fitting end to the arc; and the second mission, with the fence, really stood out as 'well done' too). In all honesty, this is a very good example of an arc where, while the basic story doesn't really 'wow' me (in all honesty, there's nothing really all that 'new' or 'original' about a cursed item you can't get rid of, that everybody else wants), the basic story is told so well that the arc is still very entertaining to play!
Cons: For me, the biggest 'flaw' of the arc really just amounts to a nit - in effect, your inability to get rid of the item is really only 'explored' in a mission debriefing. If I had to suggest an improvement, it would be this: why not put some examples of your constant attempt to get rid of the item in the 3rd mission as well? Sort of a 'yeah, you know you can't get rid of it, but that's not going to stop you from trying while you're looking for a solution to the problem' - maybe a few glowies in the CoT map where you're basically just trying to leave the thing in a rune-covered urn, or bury it, or crush it on a table, or whatever - just to make the player really feel like they're trying to get rid of it, and it just ... won't ... work!

Still on the 'to do' list is to 'move' my master list of arcs to the very first post - it just seems to make more sense, now that we have almost unlimited editing abilities to store the list on page 1 of the thread, than in some random location deep within it.

Note that as always time management concerns will probably mean my mini-reviews for next week will be unusually short just to give me the extra time to do the planned edits to the main list.

Until next week, and keep those suggestions coming!

You might like to try arc 190069, "Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face". Pro Payne may well be the perfect foil for Captain Dynamic. "Regular MA player being a hero", meets "regular MA architect being a hero" [yes, yes, of course Captain Dynamic is real]. The arc has recently been set to level 30+. Hopefully you don't mind seeing the Captain Dynamic videos that set this arc up (if you haven't seen them already).

A recent player called the arc "demented", I hope you enjoy it too.

Arc: 379017: Outbroken See all your old friends in the Outbreak Tutorial sequel!
Arc: Coming Soon: The Incarnate Shadow Shard of Fire and Ice Mender Rednem needs you!
Massively.com opinion poll: Please Help Save CoH!

This sounds like a fun idea.

I would love if you would play my arc In Pursuit of Liberty - 221702.

It is a lighthearted story arc. It says it is very long because it has 5 missions, but it takes less than a hour to play.

It is set at level 45 and up but will auto level you to 45.

I have soloed it on heroes in the 20s at level 1.

I can always use more feedback.

Thanks

All of the suggestions have been added to Pro Payne's queue. It's currently:
1526, 1589, 296884, 311775, 299972, 190069, 221702, and 257242. Arcs that will auto-exemplar me (which is only the last one listed, I believe) will probably wait for I16 to go live, so it's possible for Pro Payne to earn XP.

(Pro Payne is still in his alternate 'outside world' build, working toward the level 36-40 safeguard; once he's done, he'll be back to MA)

Just a very quick update:

Pro Payne is now level 37. He's been currently playing through my own MA arcs.

The reason: most of my own arcs will be affected by the XP changes in I16 - a lot of them either make use of custom mobs (some more than others, and some missions more than others), or the Freakshow is a prominent group (none of them are 'farming' arcs, although one is designed to be a challenge, but the bottom line is the Freaks are just fun to write for, I have fun fighting them, and the fact they're worth bonus XP certainly didn't hurt the fun factor).

While I absolutely do not agree with the XP changes to custom mobs (I honestly think it is very unwise to make mobs that are almost always either equal to or harder than 'standard' mobs actually worth less XP, and still have no real in-game feedback on just how much XP they'll assign without actually publishing and playing the arc), I did think it was time the Freakshow were at least worth 'normal' XP - I've played versus them with a variety of characters through just about every level range they exist at, and they certainly never struck me as 'harder than average' - just 'average.' Still I don't think an actual nerf to 'below average' for them was warrented. But that's just my opinion.

But, the bottom line is I've wanted to play through my own arcs while they were still work 'correct' XP, so that's been keeping Pro Payne occupied.

Once that's done with - he'll be right back to playing everyone else arcs.

His current queue: 296884, 314798, 299972, 190069, 211702, and 257242. (I do plan on posting my usual 'mini-reviews' for The Bestest Radio Mission Ever' and 'Of Mentors and Legacy'; but at the moment I feel like I'm racing the clock to finish my arcs before I16 hits the live servers.)

Quick note, my arc's number has changed from 311775 to 314798.

If you wanted to take a quick break for a game of Whack a Mole #2711 feel free. It's only 2 missions timed at a total of 15 minutes. It's a total of 9 mole bosses and one mole EB so you might want to try and hit it before i16 comes to get the most of it's already fairly limited xp.