Give my toons some arcs to play

I'll suggest my arc for your higher level characters. It's got Crey for one very short ghostable mission, but everything else is custom.

Astoria in D Minor (Info is in my sig) would probably fit Darkfire Avenger. It's a dark story and right in that level range.

I ran "Astoria in D Minor" based on multiple rave reviews...it's worth slogging through Banished Pantheon with Dark Melee, and that's saying something. Those masks have some kind of crazy-high defense. Although I'll be using Kira to run your other one, zombies burn good

Darkfire has run through pretty much all the arcs suggested for her, and I'm starting to tief arcs suggested for other characters, and just running stuff with good reviews, stuff by authors whose other arcs I liked, and random searches. Scrapperlock. She's coming up on level 30, so I've got a few "I'll try this now and see if it kills me" arcs for her.

Things I've noticed: I hate CoT ghosts. Hate hate hate. Of course, the enemy group as a whole lends itself well to the darkity dark theme I have going.

Custom enemies are made of defense debuff. Those that don't have any, do insane damage. Also, KO blow never misses, even if the enemy doesn't have Rage.

Shields has confuse resistance, apparently.

Also, Thunderkiss totally pwnd the arcs suggested for her, so if anybody has any more Malta, Knives or Rularuu arcs, bring 'em on!

[ QUOTE ]
Also, Thunderkiss totally pwnd the arcs suggested for her, so if anybody has any more Malta, Knives or Rularuu arcs, bring 'em on!

[/ QUOTE ]

How about the hero arc in my sig, Blitzkrieg? It stars Malta and the Knives make a guest appearance, but people seem to like it anyway. I hope you'll think the same!

EDIT: I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts about it, review or otherwise, by the way.

Ok, Jophiel asked for feedback but I couldn't find a thread for the arc (although admittedly I didn't look too hard) so I'm posting a review here. It's an attempt at an in-character review because I felt like it.

**SPOILERS FOLLOW**




Standing Within the Mists (Arc ID 209473)

So MAGI is moving some magic thing to some place called Magewyn Arcane Research. Well if you saw it on the news, and this magic thing is important, MAGI security must be worse than I thought. And they're letting Council members work in their warehouse...this place might have worse security than MAGI.

Well well, the little junkie wants to "borrow" money. What, you've run through whatever the Council guy had in his wallet already? A super-poison though...that could have its uses, in the right hands. I'll tell you what Lily, I'll "help" you if this lead of yours pans out.

Well, what do you know, she was right. The poison gas, the antidote, and the how-to manual, all in the same easy-to-navigate warehouse instead of three separate labyrinthine bases. Stupid of them, convenient for me.

So you're smarter than you look Lily. Now if only you didn't have that short-term memory problem...it's the Well of Furies dummy...but if you don't know what that is, so much the better for me. Here's a few bucks, don't fry your brain too badly, or you'll outlive your usefulness.

Huh, so this Magewyn place has some security after all. And the cops on speed dial too, apparently. Too bad it isn't good security, and the Paragon Police are as incompetent as ever. And these Magewyn offices are a mess, there's a pile of junk in the corner that doesn't look like it's been touched in weeks. So what am I doing sifting through it? ((no interact text)) Eh, might as well stick the bomb here, doesn't look like anybody cares about this stuff.

In case that memory thing's acting up again Lily, the first rule of working for Commander Kira is you don't ask questions. Just gimme the membership card. Even though I look nothing like the guy in the picture, and there aren't exactly a lot of women in the council...oh hey, look it's a key card. You'd think the magnetic strip would give that away...apparently whatever Lily's on is affecting her perception as well as her memory.

Off to the Council base to detonate my bomb. This seems unnecessarily complicated. But at least they keep the console in a secure base. Well, sort of. You know, if you guys recruited yourselves some women you wouldn't have morons losing their wallets to some chick they met at a bar. And this base isn't as hard to navigate as I feared, I find what I'm looking for pretty easily. So this brilliant Council scientist is a Warwolf? Funny, I always thought they'd pretty much degenerated to a near-bestial state. And conveniently enough, he wrote down the activation code. So I trigger the bomb, and cause all kinds of chaos. Which, somehow, I can see even from inside a Council base. Well, I guess they have cameras all over the city or something.

A little late to be showing remorse, isn't it Lily? If you'd paid attention, you would have known who you were dealing with...The point is everybody in that Magewyn building is choking on this gas, and I have the antidote...time to walk in and steal anything that isn't nailed down. And apparently I only have 45 minutes to do it in...or what? The gas is going to dissipate? The rescue squad is going to finally come up with bio-hazard suits? The super-powered robot squad is going to show up? Why am I on a time limit?

What's this "Urn of Jubilee" this Blasted Hero was supposed to guard? Hmm, there sure are a lot of people still alive in here. Apparently this gas also gives office workers super powers. And that janitor is going to need "bleach and a mob" to clean it up. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that an Arcane research place would have wizards...((with a typo in their bio, "hia skin and brain")) You'd expect maybe some rescue crews in full bio-hazard suits and gas masks...but no. Just super-powered office workers. No big heroes trying to stop me, nothing. Well, I got the urn, but it was a bit anti-climatic.

I mean, this is supposed to be water from the Well of Furies, and the whole time I had a grand total of ONE hero trying to stop me from taking it. This was TOO easy. So easy I'm having trouble believing it's the genuine article.

And apparently for some reason I can't just drink it...I have to unlock its secrets first. Why can't I just drink it? Is there a sign on it saying "do not drink?" Maybe some vaguely worded instruction manual, that totally fails to tell me what to do but specifically tells me what NOT to do? You'd think, with something so important, there would be more buzz around the Magewyn offices. There would be references to it all over the place. But for all I know this is water from the office water cooler.

My plan was a good one though, if I do say so myself. That junkie trash did give me some good leads, and it's always a good idea to eliminate as much resistance as possible BEFORE you go in. Too bad the Council's stuff doesn't work as advertised...maybe they shouldn't be trusting a Warwolf with super-advanced chemical weapons. Still, with everybody in that building dead or insane, nobody knows who took the thing, (well except Lily, but she seems accident-prone) so it's mine, all mine, and I do like that.

Just a couple notes to clear up some plot points and give a little feedback. Nothing really to "defend" but just give what I was thinking in case you (or someone else) has an alternate view on why it does/doesn't work. Thanks for the review

[ QUOTE ]
And they're letting Council members work in their warehouse...this place might have worse security than MAGI.

[/ QUOTE ]The Council warehouse was a separate entity from Magewyn (or MAGI, obviously). The idea was that you had Lily keeping an ear to the ground regarding the poison and her lead brought you to the Council.

[ QUOTE ]
So what am I doing sifting through it? ((no interact text)) Eh, might as well stick the bomb here, doesn't look like anybody cares about this stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]Whoops... something to fix.

[ QUOTE ]
Even though I look nothing like the guy in the picture, and there aren't exactly a lot of women in the council...oh hey, look it's a key card. You'd think the magnetic strip would give that away...apparently whatever Lily's on is affecting her perception as well as her memory.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, Lily is intentionally... erm... perceptively challenged. Hence her asking suggesting that it might be a discount card the crux of it isn't so much to sneak in under disguise but rather to know (A) where the base is and (B) to open the front door.

[ QUOTE ]
So this brilliant Council scientist is a Warwolf? Funny, I always thought they'd pretty much degenerated to a near-bestial state.

[/ QUOTE ]

I look forward to I15 when I can set levels. Unfortunately, the only Council mobs who span 1-54 are warwolves and Arch Villains. Come to think of it, I should have just created a custom. I think I shied away from that because it's hard to make a convincing Council without the authentic Council bits & bobs. I faked it up for the NPC you come across but you only see him for a second. I didn't think it'd work as well for a boss you're really looking at.

[ QUOTE ]
So I trigger the bomb, and cause all kinds of chaos. Which, somehow, I can see even from inside a Council base. Well, I guess they have cameras all over the city or something.

[/ QUOTE ]

3rd person narrative, really.

[ QUOTE ]
And apparently I only have 45 minutes to do it in...or what? The gas is going to dissipate? The rescue squad is going to finally come up with bio-hazard suits? The super-powered robot squad is going to show up? Why am I on a time limit?

[/ QUOTE ]

The antidote only lasts so long. I'm almost certain that's in the text.

[ QUOTE ]
What's this "Urn of Jubilee" this Blasted Hero was supposed to guard?

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be me changing the name of the objective partway through creating the arc and then missing an instance of its name in the revision. Thanks for catching that. Although, the original intent was that the object was an urn supposedly containing soil from the Garden of Eden (The "Book of Jubilees" being the name of an alternate accounting of Genesis). I was making a newbie character once and was visiting MAGI and saw that they had the same urn sitting there with a plaque saying it was water from the Well of Furies and shifted it to that to make it slightly more canonical. I think I'm going to go back to the Jubilees thing since, as you point out later, there's not a whole lot to unlock about a vase of water whereas tapping the power of some dirt might be a little trickier.

[ QUOTE ]
No big heroes trying to stop me, nothing. Well, I got the urn, but it was a bit anti-climatic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Another thing I'm waiting on I15 for. I had tried to make sure the boss was between you and the objective but apparently it's not working for me. I understand that we'll be able to chain the appearance of clickies to boss defeats in I15 so that's what I really want to do. You are, however, not the first to say that the final mission is too easy (despite me trying to fix that) so I'll have to work at it harder. I think I'm a little gunshy of super-ultra-monster custom mobs and so erred on the side of caution.

It seems that you did ultimately enjoy the arc despite its warts and I really appreciate you giving it a run through and your opinions so I can polish it up further.

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
And they're letting Council members work in their warehouse...this place might have worse security than MAGI.

[/ QUOTE ]The Council warehouse was a separate entity from Magewyn (or MAGI, obviously). The idea was that you had Lily keeping an ear to the ground regarding the poison and her lead brought you to the Council.

[/ QUOTE ]

Her introductory dialogue made it sound like the two were somehow related, and she was trying to tell me about the urn. After the first mission I figured out that the description was stuff my character already knew.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Even though I look nothing like the guy in the picture, and there aren't exactly a lot of women in the council...oh hey, look it's a key card. You'd think the magnetic strip would give that away...apparently whatever Lily's on is affecting her perception as well as her memory.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, Lily is intentionally... erm... perceptively challenged. Hence her asking suggesting that it might be a discount card the crux of it isn't so much to sneak in under disguise but rather to know (A) where the base is and (B) to open the front door.

[/ QUOTE ]

I figured that, it was more of an in-character observation of her stupidity. Kira doesn't think much of her, obviously...which actually makes her perfect for this kind of story since she can be done away with at the end if your character wants to.

[ QUOTE ]

I look forward to I15 when I can set levels. Unfortunately, the only Council mobs who span 1-54 are warwolves and Arch Villains. Come to think of it, I should have just created a custom. I think I shied away from that because it's hard to make a convincing Council without the authentic Council bits & bobs. I faked it up for the NPC you come across but you only see him for a second. I didn't think it'd work as well for a boss you're really looking at.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I don't really look at bosses since I have hurricane on and they're flat on their backs for most of the fight...but most people would, yes. If you're going to set a level range I'd suggest 35-40 or so....it's good as a high-level caper arc.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And apparently I only have 45 minutes to do it in...or what? The gas is going to dissipate? The rescue squad is going to finally come up with bio-hazard suits? The super-powered robot squad is going to show up? Why am I on a time limit?

[/ QUOTE ]

The antidote only lasts so long. I'm almost certain that's in the text.

[/ QUOTE ]

I might have missed it. Maybe some more of that orange text you use for "This is my idea" in the contact briefings, reminding you that you have only 45 minutes before the antidote wears off?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What's this "Urn of Jubilee" this Blasted Hero was supposed to guard?

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be me changing the name of the objective partway through creating the arc and then missing an instance of its name in the revision. Thanks for catching that. Although, the original intent was that the object was an urn supposedly containing soil from the Garden of Eden (The "Book of Jubilees" being the name of an alternate accounting of Genesis). I was making a newbie character once and was visiting MAGI and saw that they had the same urn sitting there with a plaque saying it was water from the Well of Furies and shifted it to that to make it slightly more canonical. I think I'm going to go back to the Jubilees thing since, as you point out later, there's not a whole lot to unlock about a vase of water whereas tapping the power of some dirt might be a little trickier.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would work too, actually. Especially since my first thought upon seeing "Well of Furies" is "I'm gonna drink this and be UBER!!!" Which of course the MA can't protray.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No big heroes trying to stop me, nothing. Well, I got the urn, but it was a bit anti-climatic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Another thing I'm waiting on I15 for. I had tried to make sure the boss was between you and the objective but apparently it's not working for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

It did work, the boss was right up front and the urn was way on the last floor. It's just that the rest of the mission was full of guys the gas should have done away with, who really did nothing to indicate that they were defending an important artifact.

[ QUOTE ]
You are, however, not the first to say that the final mission is too easy (despite me trying to fix that) so I'll have to work at it harder. I think I'm a little gunshy of super-ultra-monster custom mobs and so erred on the side of caution.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your custom mobs were totally not difficult. Some of that was due to the map, Stormies are good in tight spaces. At the higher levels that (IMO) this story is suitable for, a few custom bosses shouldn't give most people problems, as long as you don't go nuts with the power settings. You don't need to bring in the Freedom Phalanx or anything, just maybe some "early responders." It's not about the power-level, it's the sense of urgency, on the heroes' part. The final mission was lacking that.

[ QUOTE ]

It seems that you did ultimately enjoy the arc despite its warts and I really appreciate you giving it a run through and your opinions so I can polish it up further.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's see, things I did like: Totally self-motivated villainy, and nobody profits but me. Smart villainy, I use a method other than "go in and smash everything." Obviously carefully proofread, I caught two typos and they were in custom character bios. Smooth gameplay throughout. Logical story progression once I figured out that my character was planning to steal the urn from the beginning. The normal office-to-green office progression, and the maps were similar enough that it seemed like the same office. Yes, it was overall a pretty enjoyable arc. It just needs a bit more polish to make it really really good.

Thanks again for the input. I think I might re-do the final mission to have more of a Haz-Mat "First Responder" feeling as you describe and use the "Blasted" types as placed mobs ("bosses", patrols, whatever). I like them existing since they give the feeling that your villain messed up their day something solid but I was never completely at ease with a building full of OfficeRage super-freaks. I think they're a lesson in "less is more".