Venture's Reviews IV: The Search for Part III
By
Aces_High,
Posted on: 2009-07-01 15:15 in Mission Architect
Keeping all the missions within an arc at a similar level range is a common courtesy to the player. If the level range jumps around a lot, you can easily end up with lowbies experiencing difficulty and unable to complete, or highbies finding a mission they don't get experience for.
Having said that, minor variations in level ranges are nothing to nitpick about in my experience, especially if they don't detract from the enjoyment of the story overall. However if you don't keep these things in check, authors can do a 45-54, 1-20, 30-35 arc which is just an annoying headache most times and actually detracts from the quality of the story as a whole.
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As I understand it, the biggest problem with this kind of level jump is that just because a lowbie has been auto-SKed up to the appropriate level doesn't mean that they can actually handle enemies at that range.
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I'm just saying that if you pin the level ranges, you get this problem across the whole story arc instead of just some missions.
Venture's response is that's still better because at least there aren't any mid-arc unpleasant surprises, which I can understand, although it seems a bit nit picky to me. But I guess it's a polish question.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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As I understand it, the biggest problem with this kind of level jump is that just because a lowbie has been auto-SKed up to the appropriate level doesn't mean that they can actually handle enemies at that range.
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I'm just saying that if you pin the level ranges, you get this problem across the whole story arc instead of just some missions.
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If you set the level ranges, it's a pretty clear sign to a lowbie to AVOID THIS ARC. IT IS FOR HIGH LEVEL PLAYERS.
Seriously guys, go look at an arc description and see how pretty those 30-40, 30-40, 30-40, 30-40 level ranges look all lined up in a row. It's like a nice clean shirt. Throwing a 40-50 mission in there? That's the coffee stain.
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
I'm just saying that if you pin the level ranges, you get this problem across the whole story arc instead of just some missions.
If a player brings a level 30 character into an arc that says every mission is 40+ he has no one to blame but himself.
Personally I wish we could gate arcs by level instead of having lower-level characters autoleveled. I had someone send multiple tells complaining about the difficulty of "Two Households Alike" because he brought a level 17 character into a level 20-29 arc. I'd rather maybe lose a few extra plays than have people bring characters that are too low into my arcs.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Same here, I had to add extra warnings to one of my arcs because some people didn't seem to get that if all the missions are set to 40-54, there is a good reason for it. Especially when a lot of custom critters are involved who were balanced to challenge level 40+ players.
I'd rather that the auto-sk mechanic had a limitation like not being able to start the arc if you're more than 5 levels below the highest minimum level among the missions. That might also encourage people to use reasonable level ranges, although some fools will still try to just leave it at 1-54 with their custom critters who probably will mop the floor with anyone below level 15.
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I'm just saying that if you pin the level ranges, you get this problem across the whole story arc instead of just some missions.
If a player brings a level 30 character into an arc that says every mission is 40+ he has no one to blame but himself.
Personally I wish we could gate arcs by level instead of having lower-level characters autoleveled. I had someone send multiple tells complaining about the difficulty of "Two Households Alike" because he brought a level 17 character into a level 20-29 arc. I'd rather maybe lose a few extra plays than have people bring characters that are too low into my arcs.
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Some people can handle higher-level arcs. Having more arcs available to play is good.
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
Arc #59147, "Shades of Betrayal, Acts of Salvation"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: throws the Idiot Ball, weak themes, balance issues, weak dialog
Reviewed on: 7/22/2009
Level Range: 25-35 (25-37 in act V)
Architect's Keywords: Canon Related, Save the World, Drama
My Keywords: Save the World, Magic
Character used: Amelia Escobar/Virtue
"Aaron Kinkay" (custom Contact, bio says he's a Midnighter researching parallel world and secret cults) wants your help in tracking down some unusual magical activity. Their leads point to the Grim Vale in Croatoa. This takes place on one of the more annoying outdoor Croatoa maps as you can't really scout it from the air. There are some Fir Bolg (that only spawned at 34 to my 35, on CL2) and Circle mobs about. Your target is "Sicarius", a Circle of Thorns Agony Mage, who is cutting a deal with the Fir Bolg for access to a new source of magical power. He drops a coin when you pummel him, which you take back to Aaron for research.
Aaron says the coin is connected to the Un'se'lei Council, which it seems are not to be confused with the Unseelie Court. While Aaron tries to get in touch with them, you're off to Founders' Falls to deal with the sudden appearance of some pillars. While the briefing suggests another outdoor mission you're instead sent to a Troll-type caves map. You have to destroy six pillars (typo in Clue: "whisp") and defeat "Garik", War Mace/Willpower Boss, with the help of "Derek" (War Mace/Invulnerability), both Un'se'lei. Derek tells you the Midnighters in the cave are actually Circle of Thorns in disguise. Once again the mobs spawned under level (I suspect there are level coverage issues in the factions used). When you finish, it turns out you've caught the Idiot Ball: those were Midnighters, Derek is a traitor and you've destroyed the pillars that were separating our world from the Un'se'lei world.
For your next task, you must retrieve the seven "Kalthor Keys" needed to repair the dimensional barriers. These are in the hands of Derek and Sicarius. Aaron also warns you that some of the Midnighters are now gunning for you thanks to your colossal stupidity. This one comes with a bring-friends warning. I'm not sure why as there was only the one Boss, Derek (who has a period after his name for some reason). Derek gives up four of the keys on defeat; Aaron recovers the rest off-screen. There is also an objective to "Rescue Garik" but that is achieved upon reading a stone with a message from him stating no prison can hold him. In the debriefing you are told the Un'se'lei have branded Derek and his men "Unseelie" meaning "outcast", which is beating up on Irish mythology but that was pretty much pummeled to death in the Croatoa arcs anyway.
Now that you have the keys it's time to rebuild the barriers, which will require humans and Un'se'lei to work together. You're sent to join up with someone named Elara in a 30 minute timed mission. You've got seven glowies to find with an Earth Control/Empathy Boss ally, making this an easy free-throw. The same goes for the next mission, in which you get two Allies, Garak and Javasha, a Dual Blades/Willpower Elite Boss. You have to take down Sicarius again, then hunt down some glowies, which trigger more glowies, then fight Kilcarsadur, the Circle Archmage in charge of the plot (Baron Zoria renamed). The two allies make it all way too easy.
The arc does have themes of betrayal and "power at any price", but it doesn't do much with them. There are some balance issues; the allies are too many and too powerful. The whole conflation between Un'se'lei and Unseelie really should just go away. There's a good story in here struggling to get out but it needs work.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
That was me, bringing a level 17 blaster to Venture's level 20-29 arc, and not being able to complete the five-parter because of the Elite Boss in the last room. My first tell was to express my frustration at not being able to complete the story arc, not even after Hulking out with 15 purples. My second tell was to apologize for losing my mind (after getting two-shotted approximately 10 times in a row) and otherwise commend Venture on his story, promising to give "Two Households Alike" another run, with a more level-appropriate character.
So...I ran "Two Households Alike" with a level 23 blaster, and got through the last mission with only one death. (I had to use approximately 30 inspirations, and duck out the door once to load up on a second round of 30 inspirations, but the mission WAS completable, solo, despite my previous experience.)(Therefore: NOT "broken", unlike the Ouroboros TFs...)
I really enjoyed the storyarc, and rated it five stars. Best storytelling I have encountered in the whole Mission Architect; that souvenir is a killer twist! (Glad I finally earned it!)
Venture, please don't tell me to restrict my posting to the storyarc's official thread, I don't have anything else to say about "Two Households Alike" other than, I too wish there was a way to gate arcs by level -- it would have saved me a lot of frustration, bringing a level 17 blaster to a level 20 party! Now I know better! 
Mrs. Spoon here (as that this is a shared account) Thank you Venture for the review/critique on my arc, Shades of Betrayal, Acts of Salvation. With all the character classes and combination of powers it is always interesting to see from differing POV's what others experience.
It is with some relief that you did not slap me with a "hitting the player over the head with theme". The betrayal and power at all costs are underlying themes - it is what is LOST from betrayal that is the "it" of the primary deeper reaching theme IMHO ....that "word/theme" comes up several times including with what the contact says to you.
There are 3 types of idiot ball
1) [u]The Puppet Idiot Ball[u] - You are tricked by your contact to do a good/bad deed only to find out that it was just to further their ambitions. You are then forced by the game mechanics to continue to work with back-stabbing contact or drop the Arc.
2) [u]The Scapegoat Idiot Ball[u] - You are tricked into doing something catastrophic that upon return to your contact you are chewed out and made the subject of ridicule and/or persecution. You catch heat from enemy and friend alike.
3) [u]The Joined At Hip Idiot Ball[u] - You AND your contact were tricked into doing something terrible believing that it was done with the best intentions. Your Contact continues to work with you even though his/her organization or a faction in the organization is calling for your head AND the contact's.
In my story - I am guilty of # 3, the Joined At Hip Idiot Ball is used to advance the theme(s) being played out. That will remain so even though some do not like any Idiot Ball at all.
With the Finale having two 'high' powered allies that make it too easy - Understood. Different classes will experience things differently. My high lvl Archery/Electric Blaster suffered two defeats while my lvl 24 Rad/Sonic Defender had no trouble at all.
"the allies are too many " Have to begrudgingly agree on that score upon close examination....have hit upon a unique solution for the 4th mission. Should it work, the player will then only have allies for 2 out of the 5 missions.
I'm perplexed about the weak dialogue critique, but will seek clarification in a PM. Thanks again.
My Arc: The Power From Out Of Space, ID# 64800
Mrs. Spoon's Arc: Shades of Betrayal, Acts of Salvation, ID# 59147
This brings up a funny (at least, to me) point about the Idiot Ball.
I'm a big fan of Venture's reviews; I've carefully read them all in each of his forum threads. I agree with him on many, many points, and if I didn't think that the reviews had much merit, I wouldn't have continued reading them.
That said, he's ideosyncratic; and one of his ideosyncracies is that he doesn't like his characters ever to be wrong about anything. If they are, EVER, then you've committed an Offense: Throwing the Idiot Ball.
Let's say that the Protagonist arrives at a crime scene too late to stop the Big Bad. Already you're in danger of Throwing the Idiot Ball, as Venture likely would have preferred to show up in the nick of time; but presumably there's simply no way the Protagonist could have known about the incident in time to prevent it.
Being too late to stop the Big Bad, the Protagonist instead scours the crime scene, looking for a clue or clues which might reveal the Big Bad's evil plan and/or current whereabouts.
Finding the clue(s), the Protagonist returns to the contact, and either the Protagonist or contact, or both together, use the clue(s) to deduce the Big Bad's next likely target and/or present whereabouts.
This storytelling device is a convention in many genres, including comic books and CoX, so the device is perfectly valid to Venture as long as it leads the Protagonist to the right place and/or to do the right thing.
If, instead, a vital clue turns out to be a Red Herring, placed by the Big Bad deliberately to misdirect the Protagonist; or if, Heaven forbid, the Protagonist and/or contact make a false assumption about the clue (i.e. that isn't a page from the Obsidian Librum; it's an impeccable forgery), and the Protagonist winds up being in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing as a result, then you, dear Architect, have Thrown the Idiot Ball at Venture and must die.
Even if the best available intel led him to the wrong place, or the most logical and reasonable course of action turned out to be wrong, it's still Throwing the Idiot Ball because the Protagonist winds up being fallible.
I mean, for goodness' sake, "The Eternal Nemesis" made him want to punch the developers in the throat. Nevermind that the protagonist uncovers the wrongdoing of Tyrone Lockheart and sends him to prison. Nevermind that the protagonist realizes Nemesis' deception before it's too late, and reacts in time to foil the Council takeover. Nevermind that the Protagonist beats down Nosferatu.
Nevermind that at every turn, the Protagonist acts in a logical and reasonable manner on the best intel available. Nemesis almost uses the Protagonist to overtake the Council, and in the end succeeds at faking his own death. That's Throwing the Idiot Ball, because it destroys the illusion of the Protagonist being infallible.
Venture doesn't like that.
I disagree. I haven't noticed any tendency in Venture to dislike the character being wrong. It's when the character isn't allowed to use common sense that the Idiot Ball is thrown.
From "Dr. Aeon's Nemesis" review, I see this:
"Then when you get back Aeon says he realized that there was never any danger in the first place because he hadn't used the components he thought he used."
So the character was wrong because the contact misled him (albeit not deliberately). But there's no idiot ball here for the character - Dr. Aeon arguably caught it for not knowing what the heck he was doing with his own experiment, but it's a comedic element so here it doesn't have the negative connotations.
The arc got 5 stars.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
I've always interpreted the "Idiot Ball" differently. To me, it's when you (the player) suspect something is happening in the arc, but your character is written as conveniently oblivious. It's not that it forces me to be wrong, but rather that it forces me to be wrong when I already know better.
For example, say the Contact sends me on a mission and Lo! -- a team of assassins is there with an ambush for me. Whatever, they don't pose much of a challenge. I go back to the Contact, who naturally acts surprised, but otherwise disregards my little adventure.
In the next mission, I'm snooping around for some ambiguous clue when Hey! -- more assassins. Coincidence, right? Dispatch baddies and return to the Contact, who sends me into two more surprise ambushes, and acts innocently unaware each time. But I trust him, because he's my Contact -- he's got my back, right?
Final mission: I'm wandering around, minding my own business, when who should show up? The Contact with his own private army of assassins! Apparently he was trying to kill me all along (shocker!).
"Idiot Ball" is when the writer demands that a PC overlook something obvious. The writer had a set plot in mind; to him, there is only one way to travel through the story. Nevermind that I was instantly suspicious of the Contact's furtive eyes or poor acting. I'm written into a state of ignorance with no alternative but to face the final revelation cluelessly. And by agreeing to continue the arc, I end up catching the Idiot Ball.
Admittedly, it's a very tricky thing to avoid in a medium with an uncontrollable character (you!). Since the writer can't make room for every possible reaction from the player, he then decides to force the reaction he needs, which might end up making the player look like a sap.
I'm not a huge fan of being wrong, but I'm even less tolerant of being told to play the idiot.
Rise of the Copper Legion (#60280; with soundtrack)
The Fractured Dreamer (#498588; with musical theme)
"Now Leaving: Paragon City": original composition for the end of CoH
I think it's even more general than that, and can be summed up as an inexplicable failure to use common sense. That can happen in any storytelling medium, to any relevant actor (protagonist, antagonist, minor characters, etc) - but when it happens in this medium, to the character the player is investing their energy in, it's particularly jarring and can be almost personally insulting.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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"Idiot Ball" is when the writer demands that a PC overlook something obvious. The writer had a set plot in mind; to him, there is only one way to travel through the story. Nevermind that I was instantly suspicious of the Contact's furtive eyes or poor acting. I'm written into a state of ignorance with no alternative but to face the final revelation cluelessly. And by agreeing to continue the arc, I end up catching the Idiot Ball.
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While I agree that this is the appropriate interpretation of "Idiot Ball," I also believe Venture uses it more generally as a reaction to whenever his character is maneuvered by plot devices into doing the wrong thing.
In his most recent review, destroying what appear to be rifts between worlds winds up being the wrong thing to do, and Venture cites it as Throwing the Idiot Ball.
Personally I think it's a marginal case. I'd agree that taking Derek at his word (the Midnighters are really CoT) and killing Midnighters would be a case of catching the Idiot Ball, but in point of fact, my scrapper Supersped past Derek and didn't kill any Midnighters; I just two-shotted all the pillars, ignoring the mobs.
I suppose that killing Garik for mission complete was Catching the Idiot Ball, though. I didn't feel I had any peculiar quarrel with him, aside from what showed up in the nav bar, and had little choice but to split him from stem to stern, but as I recall, he and the Midnighters were attacking ME before I made any move against anything or anyone, so whatever I did, I pretty much had to do.
I suppose Venture wan't wrong about the Idiot Ball in this case, and he's been quite right about it in many others.
But there have been instances where I felt that Venture accuses Architects (and developers) of Throwing the Idiot Ball at him simply because the stories depict the protagonist as being otherwise from infallible.
Venture's estimation of "The Eternal Nemesis" springs readily to mind, but there have also been some user-created arcs where I've disagreed with his use of the trope.
In my opinion, it's related to his view of the protagonist as inviolate--which I respect and agree with in principle (a story arc has no business telling you what your character's motivations are, or casting you as a dimwitted sap); but I don't agree with every instance in which Venture chooses to apply that principle, and I stand by my observation that it's a peculiar ideosyncracy of the reviewer.
Personally I think it's a marginal case. I'd agree that taking Derek at his word (the Midnighters are really CoT) and killing Midnighters would be a case of catching the Idiot Ball,
...which is what I meant. I didn't think I had to spell that out. Some goomba I've never met, with no bonafides, tells me "those guys who look like friends are really enemies, take them out" and I pretty much have to do it.
but in point of fact, my scrapper Supersped past Derek and didn't kill any Midnighters; I just two-shotted all the pillars, ignoring the mobs.
If your character had the wherewithal to avoid all the mobs then good for you, but I'd wager nine out of ten people playing the arc in question are going to have to fight at least some of them.
Venture's estimation of "The Eternal Nemesis" springs readily to mind, but there have also been some user-created arcs where I've disagreed with his use of the trope.
"The Eternal Nemesis" has the Contact (and thus the character) fall for an obvious trick. Worse, even if it wasn't a trick, the proscribed course of action is still wrong. The proper strategic move was to let the two enemy factions slug it out and then take on the winner before he could recover or consolidate. Having the Contact not realize that in the face of an enemy he himself constantly states is a master of deception is just beyond stupid.
If you want to discuss my invocation of the trope in reviews you'll have to be more specific.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
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I've always interpreted the "Idiot Ball" differently. To me, it's when you (the player) suspect something is happening in the arc, but your character is written as conveniently oblivious. It's not that it forces me to be wrong, but rather that it forces me to be wrong when I already know better.
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That's how I see it as well. Idiot Ball is related the the Idiot Plot, a plot that only works because every character involved is being an idiot while the audience can clearly see that nothing should be working the way it is.
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"The Eternal Nemesis" has the Contact (and thus the character) fall for an obvious trick. Worse, even if it wasn't a trick, the proscribed course of action is still wrong. The proper strategic move was to let the two enemy factions slug it out and then take on the winner before he could recover or consolidate.
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It's stated in the first mission of the war between Nemesis and the Council that the conflict itself is causing significant collateral damage; and therefore the objective isn't to destroy both factions in one master stroke, but to force immediate detante in order to protect the public.
Re: user-created arcs: afford me some time and I'll get back to you.
It's stated in the first mission of the war between Nemesis and the Council that the conflict itself is causing significant collateral damage; and therefore the objective isn't to destroy both factions in one master stroke, but to force immediate detante in order to protect the public.
That's the excuse given for stopping the first battle, and if that was all there was to it, I wouldn't object. Unfortunately, it isn't:
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The Nemesis Army and the Council are going for each other's throats in an all-out war of conquest, and Nemesis seems to be losing. I can't believe it, but it looks like Nemesis's forces have been hurt worse than I even suspected by all the defeats you've handed him. At this rate, the Council will be able to absorb Nemesis's entire organization within a month. Then the Center would have Nemesis as a replacement for Vandal! They'd be unstoppable!
So, God help me, I need to ask you to help me, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but help me help Nemesis by attacking the Council. I've discovered a key ammo depot for the Council; I'd like you to hit the supply depot and scour it for intelligence.
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...demonstrating that Maxwell Christopher has six-slotted the fifth power in Super Leap: Jumping the Shark.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
If it's a valid reason for stopping the first battle, it's a valid reason for preventing a second one. The next sentence after the passage you quoted is:
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Okay, you can either take out the weapons stockpiles or the personnel on the base. Either should work. You also need to find some intelligence that could help us target the next strike more precisely.
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So, you read it as Jumping the Shark. I read it as mistaking whom is the actual aggressor in the conflict, and disabling the perceived aggressor in order to prevent an attack that would jeapordize the public in the same way that the first one did.
Again, if detente is the actual objective, then the course of action is logical. While it goes against Max's common sense and the player's too, it isn't as cut-and-dry as Throwing the Idiot Ball. (Let alone Jumping the Shark, which is something else altogether.)
If it's a valid reason for stopping the first battle, it's a valid reason for preventing a second one.
That is not the reason put before the player. What is actually written throws the Idiot Ball. And I'm far from the only person who thinks so -- in fact, you are the only person in five years I've ever heard defend this arc.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
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If it's a valid reason for stopping the first battle, it's a valid reason for preventing a second one.
That is not the reason put before the player.
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It's bloody well implicit. If the first attack jeapordized civilians, subsequent attacks probably will, too.
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What is actually written throws the Idiot Ball.
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Maxwell Christopher's personal bugbears are irrelevant. If it was true that open war between Nemesis and the Council was placing the public at risk in the first mission, it remains true in the second one.
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And I'm far from the only person who thinks so -- in fact, you are the only person in five years I've ever heard defend this arc.
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Evidently I'm the only person who sees that detante remains the primary objective; that the necessity of the first mission implies the necessity of a second.
The noise about Nemesis being absorbed by the Center is admittely nonsense--an irrational fear of Maxwell Christopher, the evident purpose of which is merely to raise the stakes--but that does nothing to diminish the need to protect civillians by stopping open warfare on the streets.
Perhaps I have no problem with the arc simply because I have no problem with a story giving the Devil his due by outsmarting my guy, or merely forcing a mistake on his part, once in a great while.
I don't hate the arc. In fact I think canon demands it, or something like it. Without it, Nemesis simply wouldn't have much credibility as a manipulator behind the scenes. Or wouldn't have had any, prior to Dark Watcher's arc.
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Again, if detente is the actual objective, then the course of action is logical. While it goes against Max's common sense and the player's too, it isn't as cut-and-dry as Throwing the Idiot Ball. (Let alone Jumping the Shark, which is something else altogether.)
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I can't help but say this. Since when did Max have any common sense?
Anyway, if you place yourself in Maxwell Christopher's shoes, the logical thing to do would be to continue to put the hurt on Nemesis instead of the Council. Nemesis, according to Maxwell, is the greatest super genius and villain of all time. When backed against the wall, he would neither be subsumed by the Council or agree to serve them. Nemesis would probably go into hiding before bowing to the Center.
I've disagreed with Venture before about Nemesis, but Maxwell Christopher is a complete idiot, and he does throw the idiot ball to you by the definition of the term. A character (In this case, the player) who has the idiot ball is acting uncharacteristically stupid for the sake of a plot. So if you think that letting Nemesis get the upper hand in the war (And you are, since it's not that hard to imagine that Nemesis would be playing weak to gain an upper hand later) is a stupid idea, you are forced to act stupidly because your only option is to do what Maxwell Christopher tells you to.
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Again, if detente is the actual objective, then the course of action is logical. While it goes against Max's common sense and the player's too, it isn't as cut-and-dry as Throwing the Idiot Ball. (Let alone Jumping the Shark, which is something else altogether.)
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I can't help but say this. Since when did Max have any common sense?
Anyway, if you place yourself in Maxwell Christopher's shoes, the logical thing to do would be to continue to put the hurt on Nemesis instead of the Council. Nemesis, according to Maxwell, is the greatest super genius and villain of all time. When backed against the wall, he would neither be subsumed by the Council or agree to serve them. Nemesis would probably go into hiding before bowing to the Center.
I've disagreed with Venture before about Nemesis, but Maxwell Christopher is a complete idiot, and he does throw the idiot ball to you by the definition of the term. A character (In this case, the player) who has the idiot ball is acting uncharacteristically stupid for the sake of a plot. So if you think that letting Nemesis get the upper hand in the war (And you are, since it's not that hard to imagine that Nemesis would be playing weak to gain an upper hand later) is a stupid idea, you are forced to act stupidly because your only option is to do what Maxwell Christopher tells you to.
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Continuing to put the hurt on Nemesis instead of the Council does nothing to stop the Council from attacking Nemesis and catching innocents in the crossfire.
As I've said already, even if you are justly dubious about Maxwell's fears that Nemesis will be subsumed by the Council (which in addition to being wrong are wholly irrelevant), that doesn't diminish the need to immediately curtail the open warfare between the two factions.
Since the Council appears to be the aggressor, it's logical to destroy their munitions and/or arrest their personnel in order to halt the aggression.
Yes, this gives Nemesis an opportunity to attempt a coup against the Council--an attempt that the hero thwarts in the very next mission.
But whether or not the hero bought into Maxwell's theory that Nemesis is on the ropes and might wind up serving the Center, he or she nonetheless forces the cessation of hostilities between the two factions, thereby saving innocent lives--and furthermore deflects Nemesis' gambit by thwarting his takeover of the Council.
These suggestions simply to let the two factions duke it out ignore the estabished premise that the open warfare is tearing apart Paragon City and endangering innocent lives. And although simplistically it may seem like the "correct strategic move" to let two enemies weaken one another, just allowing two batallions of supersoliders to battle openly in the streets of a thriving metropolis is frankly more idiotic than anything Max suggests.
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These suggestions simply to let the two factions duke it out ignore the estabished premise that the open warfare is tearing apart Paragon City and endangering innocent lives. And although simplistically it may seem like the "correct strategic move" to let two enemies weaken one another, just allowing two batallions of supersoliders to battle openly in the streets of a thriving metropolis is frankly more idiotic than anything Max suggests.
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You're operating under the false assumption that the only way to stop the gang war is for your character to stop going after Nemesis and instead weaken the Council.
You're not the only hero in the city. Maxwell could easily put out a call for other heroes to handle the Council's forces while your character continues to pursue Nemesis. In fact, not doing so is stupid. Even a hero on the level of Superman or Batman couldn't stop a war between two supervillains and their super-soldier armies by themselves.
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I have to admit I'm still baffled as to why you care. If the top level range varies widely, yes, that affects what powers and abilities you'll have as you progress through the arc. But if the lower limit varies, all that happens is the bad guys may get a little beefier - AFAICT it doesn't really materially affect how easy or hard the arc is overall.
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As I understand it, the biggest problem with this kind of level jump is that just because a lowbie has been auto-SKed up to the appropriate level doesn't mean that they can actually handle enemies at that range. Putting aside the problem of not having nearly as many powers and slots at that point as they should (including a number of defense/control options), there's also the fact that once you hit level 25-30, the game will be assuming that you're completely decked out in SO enhancements at the very least, if not a few IOs, and will be balanced to that assumption. A lowbie who's still using TOs or even DOs is going to be seriously out-classed.
From the other side, I personally find being suddenly auto-exemplared to be equally frustrating since it means I won't be getting XP for that mission.
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Someone deserves a gold star.