Canon Fodder

If you're after a custom content driven arc, you could try my March of the Maniac Mimes arc - ID 3007. The enemies are all custom - minions, lieuts, bosses, EB and AV - most with custom power selection. I think it should meet the 70% criteria!

All feedback is appreciated, even constructive criticims, as I can't make the arc better if I don't know what doesn't work!

A Close Encounter
Arc ID: 233720
By: @Baler
Overall Rating: Incomplete

We’ve read on another reviewer’s thread that this story arc has some errors (which we also encountered while playing). When @Baler notifies us when these issues have been cleared up, we will gladly put this arc back on our queue.

@Cain Lightning
@LAMIKE
@Pankrator

If you are still accepting new submissions, you might be interested in my "Galactic Protectorate" Arcs (the ID#'s are in my signature).

While it's still an ongoing (multi-arc) story, each "chapter" is filled with custom enemies which I spent alot of time and effort creating, with a unique storyline not related to canon (the entire story takes place in an alternate universe).

Almost all the people who've played my arcs and provided me feedback have enjoyed my custom enemy groups (even if they didn't enjoy the rest of the arc), so you and your friends might like my arcs, as well

The Fracturing of Time
Arc ID: 171031
By: @Tahlana
Overall Rating: 5 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Visual Pop: I really enjoyed the custom mobs in this arc. A hoard of winged Raigaus warriors is a scary sight! The Kyrdosi also looked good, before and after their transformation. They kind of reminded me of a classic Star Trek-style alien race. A good selection of varied maps, and just enough colored text rounded out the visual pop. 5 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Fun Factor: I felt this arc was true to it’s “solo friendly” keyword. The powers of the mobs matched their descriptions well. There was a nice balance of MA Tool use, such as locating glowies, freeing allies, etc. Overall the arc was a complete package in regards to my fun factor, and is definitely worth replaying. 4.75 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Story Flow: The story read like a good novel. It was well written, had great structure, and was exciting. The background information on practically every custom mob was deep and interesting to learn about. Discovering that the contact is actually you, in essence, was a really creative twist. The story was so original that I didn’t want to stop playing until I succeeded in the end. I would love to see more Kyrdosi used in a future arc! 5 Stars

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Pest Control
Arc ID: 271731
By: @JadKin
Overall Rating: 4.25 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Story Flow: This story was well presented, simple and easy to follow. There was a wide assortment of custom critters amongst the Pest mob. Reading the different background text was both fun and informative. The clues provided did a good job in tying everything together. The major issue I had with the arc was the contact. He provided minimal inspiration along the way. A bit more interactive text from the contact would greatly improve this arc. The promise of a monetary reward was not enough of a motivation for me to want to continue. 3.75 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Visual Pop: The Ants looked awesome. The Crey at the beach could have been outfitted better. Perhaps replacing them with a bunch of civilians in beach attire would have made them more immersive. I thought there was a bit of repeated NPC dialogue, with multiple people saying the exact same thing. I liked the use of the maps, which were fun to explore. 4.50 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Fun Factor: I felt the challenge level was ok, but I wouldn’t consider it “Challenging” as a keyword. I would like to have seen some EB/AV varieties of Ants. I also felt the “Save the World” keyword wasn’t hammered home enough by the contact. That being said, I loved the custom power building of the various Ants! Squashing all of them was very fun, enough to continue playing to the end. I would easily play through this arc again, just to battle the Ants. 4.25 Stars

Rider’s Ribs Restaurant Rescue
Arc ID: 163967
By: @Zamuel
Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Fun Factor: First off, I would keyword this mission arc “Solo Friendly”. There are definitely no player-killers present. There was a bit of repeat of the rescue objective, and having to rescue the same person twice was a drag. Although I liked the variety of opponents, they seemed to have a motley assortment of weapons and abilities at their disposal. The power selection of the custom mobs should better reflect the source of their power (King Colonel’s radiation powers) and the weapons they wield. At the very least, a swap of samurai swords and broadswords for cleavers and clubs would make it feel more appropriate. 3.5 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Story Flow: This review was a tough one. I am still unsure as to whether this was an attempt at a drama or a comedy. There were plenty of instances of both present, which confused me. I felt like an outsider trying to intervene in a family affair, but if I was somehow related to one of the characters, I might have felt more immersed in the story. Regarding the format in which the arc was presented, I found many glaring issues which further proofreading should fix up nicely. 3.25 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Visual Pop: While there was a plethora of mob types, many of them were dressed in civilian, humdrum clothing. I realize this might have been the angle you are going for, but I would suggest altering their appearance to better suit their names. Perhaps by adding some sort of green aura effect to the Colonel’s troops would better reflect how they obtained their powers. Aside from that, Disasta Recipe was funky. 3.5 Stars

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Small Fears
Arc ID: 12285
By: @Wall of Knight
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Story Flow: This arc had creepy horror story elements reminiscent of Silent Hill. The formatting was not only well done, but I thought there was clever usage of child-like speech (especially considering that the contact was a panicked child). The clues provided nice additional depth, which the contact could not, and helped propel the story along. The Professor X-like telepathic assistance provided by the contact helped the story cohesiveness, and was a nice touch. 4.75 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Visual Pop: There was a great combination of Actual Fears (Bully, Principle, Bad Girl) and Imaginary Fears (Monster Under the Bed, Evil Clown, Monster in the Hall), both being original and scary. The costumes were well done, and totally fit the “Horror” theme. There was a nice selection of maps, with none being too large. The auras were appropriate and not over used. The NPC dialogue was immersive, and helped tie in with the visuals. 5 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Fun Factor: The challenge level was fairly intense. The various powers of all of the custom mobs fit nicely, were not too overpowering, and definitely fit their descriptions. I really liked the inventive MA Tool usage, such as noted above under Story Flow. This story arc suits the “Horror” and “Magic” keywords perfectly. As the missions unfolded, the scare factor kept increasing. The only issue I had was that Mother Mayhem had to be fought twice. I would much rather have fought your custom AV twice, who I found really cool. This one has a high replay value! 4 Stars

The Portal Bandits
Arc ID: 3326
By: @Lazarus
Overall Rating: 4 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Visual Pop: Right from the start, there was visual pop! I liked the look of the contact Iron Samurai. There was a very nice mix of Nagan costume designs, with a high-tech/alien reptile flavor. Using the Crey Scorpion model as Security Chief Riker was a cool addition which I haven’t seen used often. The choice of maps was good, but the last one was a bit big. Overall, the NPC dialogue was good, but there were some questionable comedic attempts in one of the missions which seemed to fall flat. 4.25 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Fun Factor: The Challenging keyword for this story arc seems off, as we had an easy time both in team mode as well as solo. Regarding the MA Tool usage, there was not much to do aside from “defeat” objectives, however the clever use of ambushes helped keep things fun. There was such a large variety of powers amongst the mobs that I found it difficult to see a common theme, but since they were built properly, again, I found myself enjoying it. 4 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Story Flow: I stopped counting grammatical errors after five, so having another set of eyes check things out would help. It felt like there were too many similar missions, and not enough variety of bosses. I also felt the comedic mission was out of place (filler mish?), which made the overall arc suffer. I was thinking “jump the shark” after seeing the hotdog cart. The contact didn’t provide much information, however, the mob descriptions helped fill the gap. 3.75 Stars

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In Pursuit of Liberty
Arc ID: 221702
By: @Gypsy Rose
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Fun Factor I felt the story arc matched up to the keywords “Complex” and “Origin”. There was an adequate amount of stuff to uncover and do to keep things interesting. Considering the help you get from numerous allies (is Statesman really necessary in this arc?) and the fact that most signature villains are EBs rather than AVs, I think “Solo” as a keyword might fit here as well. Having said that, the arc was still very enjoyable and has a high replay value for both soloists and teams. 4.5 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Story Flow: This arc’s presentation was great, which I really appreciate. The story was clever, and following Liberty through the various points of her life was interesting. Nice, deep mob info and backgrounds which I enjoyed a lot. Having to gather the parts of her costume and weapons was fun and kept my attention all the way through. The only negative I would address is that at the very end, it felt like the story ran out of gas. The text information got progressively less and less, so you could afford to make it a bit more epic. 4.5 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Visual Pop: Schwing! I loved the hot members of the Liberty Force, especially Liberty Rose all grown-up. The Garden of Evil mob was neat (cool Devoured Earth) and well supported by the custom character Fatal Fern. The design was nice all throughout the arc except for the fourth mission. It had a bland mix of canon critters, and I would have much preferred another custom mob here. Although the maps seemed large, the proper use of the right type of mission objectives (i.e.: no “defeat alls”) allowed the missions to be completed nice and swift. 4.75 Stars

Psychophage
Arc ID: 283197
By: @Venture
Overall Rating: Incomplete

We attempted to review this arc and immediately encountered significant problems with the custom power building of the mobs which made it unplayable. When @Venture notifies us when this issue has been cleared up, we will gladly put this arc back on our queue.

@Cain Lightning
@LAMIKE
@Pankrator

If you are still looking for new arcs to review, you might want to check out my arc #6143 "Escalation".

Every mob you fight is custom throughout.

it's got custom bosses, and EB and an AV.

I think that's enough to fit your criteria.

Thanks in advance and hope you enjoy!

Thanks for the review. I've had to take the arc down for awhile, but when I revamp it and put it back up, I'll definitely make some changes based on these comments.

"A Ghost Story....."

From the slums of the Rogue Isles to the highest levels of Arachnos. A tragic love, unforgivable betrayal, a web of lies & a truth long buried is uncovered! The untold story of how a Night Widow named Belladonna Vetrano came to be the Ghost-Widow & the man she loved then died for.

MA:101857

See those two arcs listed in my sig down below? I'll toss them into the mix.

The first one is all custom, although Paragon City and The Rogue Isles are named-checked. The second one is focused around the AE so might count as canon (I guess?) but has both canon and custom toons in it and dare I say the canon foes are used as noncanon. If you're curious about how i pull that off, check it out. Both arcs have lots of plays (94 and 49 last I checked) and are at 4 stars.

Edit:rereading the first post I see that you don't even want to touch anything dealing with a canon place, so skip the second arc then.

Maybe you could review my arc? It uses some custom enemies as central to the plot, but you also fight the established villain groups upon which my custom group is based. It's a very tongue-in-cheek story arc, and you should go in expecting it to be less than serious (I even went so far as to flag it as "comedy," but that's subjective, I guess). I recommend soloing it with a character that has all their staple powers (usually level 32), but the arc's level is 40-54 (mainly because of some of the "canon" critters I included, though I would strongly urge low-level characters to not play my arc, unless they want a challenge).

Some other tips, based upon my custom group's most common tactics:

-Bring blues (one minion type and the sole boss type have Short Circuit, and one of the two Lts. has Power Sink).
-Have Stun protection (Of my custom minions, one has beanbag, one has taser, one has Jab and Handclap, and another has Martial Arts moves but not Cobra Strike, while one of my Lts. and the Boss have Beanbag).
-Yes, the boss type has Tesla Cage, but it's only him (and he doesn't have Ignite, so that's good).
-Be ready for occasional caltrops (my custom group has five minion types, one of which uses 'trops).

-There is a custom AV at the end (EB for small groups), but I don't think he's much more powerful than your average AV/EB (I'd compare his EB form to a moderately more powerful all-electric Longbow Ballista with ranged capabilities that he prefers not to use). However, if he's too much for you, you have a very powerful ally for that fight (you can ditch him somewhere if you want to go it alone), and while he has both Electric Blast and Melee, he DOES NOT have the following moves: Voltaic Sentinel, Lightning Rod, Build Up (or whatever EM has), and Aim (basically, he doesn't have any self-buffs, summons, or the broken teleport move that would be a horrible thing to give to an AV). However, he does have every other move from both sets (he's set to Melee, though, so I only see him use Thunderous Blast very rarely, I'd be more worried about Thunder Strike if I were you).

Above all, YMMV, just be careful. I think I balanced my group pretty well for midhigh-high level characters (but take that with a grain of "I mainly play Masterminds, who are the Easy Mode of Co*" salt), so you should do okay (or at least you should be if my custom mobs are working as intended). Good luck.

PS: Please post feedback in my thread, especially if my mobs are too powerful (I want my arc to be no more or less challenging than an in-game story arc). Specifically, if you can, post which power you think is making them too powerful, and suggest a move to replace it.

A Close Encounter
Arc ID: 233720
By: @Baler
Overall Rating: 3.75 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Fun Factor:
Thumbs up on matching the keywords. You captured the sci-fi flavor well and it was every bit as easy as advertised. Although there was a wide assortment of objectives (gather glowies, destroy objects, rescue allies, etc.), the clues received were so vague and uninformative that the novelty of receiving them lost its charm. Reducing the amount of clues while detailing the ones that remain would probably help clean this up. 3.75 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Story Flow:
While I found the story interesting, it took a bit too long to unfold. When all was revealed, your concept made sense and I found it pretty cool. There was a lack of detail on the mob and boss info, and some questionable naming convention (Squiigs, Squoogs, Squaags) (Grunts, Command, Trooper). Frankly, this is rather bland and took away from the appeal. As far as the clues, since there was so little information to uncover (most likely intended, at first), it’s hard to gauge their effectiveness. Even Mulder and Scully found out more of the plot in the early stages of each episode to propel them forward. 4 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Visual Pop:
I found the overall costume design unimpressive. The Eagle’s Talons reminded me of park rangers, and could use a more serious/tougher look (especially since they’re used quite often throughout the arc). Unfortunately, the Qald’s also suffered from this. You have a chance to create here, so I’d rather you used the costume editor to come up with a more unique look. I failed to find one instance of colorful text usage or even a bold/italicized word. What about a title for each mission? There was nothing exciting about the NPC dialogue; it could really use some spicing up. 3.5 Stars

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The History of Statesman
Arc ID: 219484
By: @JJAC
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars

@Cain Lightning says:
Story Flow:
Excellent presentation as it read well. The whole way through the arc, I was sufficiently compelled to continue on. The transmissions by Mender Lazarus were entertaining, reflected well on the canon character, and provided a solid sense of immersion. The clues and popups did a good job of connecting the various parts of this arc together and rounded out the story flow well. 4.5 Stars

@LAMIKE says:
Visual Pop:
Here we have some excellent use of costume design! I loved the Jags, War Hulks, Spartans, etc. Not overusing the auras made appreciating the designs a pleasure. The map selections were appropriate and fit the story. There was a nice use of text color selections to differentiate the various character dialogues. Speaking of which, I laughed a lot at the NPC speech. 5 Stars

@Pankrator says:
Fun Factor:
Definitely a soloable arc. It doesn’t play as well for a team due to the “What Waita” gag. If you’re not the leader, it’s easy to miss this joke (only the team leader sees the response that sets up this gag). As a parody, this was right on. I understood most of it and laughed out loud numerous times. Definitely a recommendable arc, but not necessarily repayable because it was quite easy. Good use of custom powers with nothing out of balance. 4 Stars