[ QUOTE ]
Instead of Super Strength, use War Mace. As you're using 80s policemen, use Police Baton or Police Nightstick. Not sure when Nightsticks (the kind you see in-game) were introduced in America, so may be safer to use Police Baton.
[/ QUOTE ]
I've got a combination of Martial Arts and War maces in, but in terms of a secondary powerset I had to go with Super Reflexes as its the least "super" if you will, of what I could choose to use on them!
In-game and now on Twitter @Tsumiju Zero "The Nightmare of Dra'Gon"
"The flow of battle can only be influenced, not by realtime tactics, but by strategy."
Proud resident of the Union EU Server.
B.A.F. Trial Guide
Technically the least "super" secondary for a custom mob is Standard Regeneration.
This only gives them 3 powers: Resilience, Fast Healing, and Quick Recovery.
Resilience gives them some Stun protection and ~6% Smashing/Lethal resistance.
Fast Healing gives them ~75% Regeneration, which any Willpower player will tell you is close to nothing.
Quick Recovery gives them a bit of Endurance recovery.
All 3 are passives, so there's no green glowy effects going on either. It's basically the "No Secondary" option.
Other cop suggestions:
AR/WM
AR/MA
AR/Dev
WM/Dev
MA/Dev
WM/Shield
I really should do something about this signature.
Ooh cheers guys, will be implementing changes based on the suggestions! 
In-game and now on Twitter @Tsumiju Zero "The Nightmare of Dra'Gon"
"The flow of battle can only be influenced, not by realtime tactics, but by strategy."
Proud resident of the Union EU Server.
B.A.F. Trial Guide
Shields are awesome for riot police. In fact, I'm going to make a riot cop right now, just for the hell of it.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
I got two in The Steel and Gold Affair, mission one (after the Col. complained about the PPD being to wimpy). 
I did a whole PPD Riot squad, but they look more like the Met.
I really should do something about this signature.
You're welcome to review my arc, if you wish - be as tough as you like - after many years trying to get a novel published I'm inured to having my work mercilessly dissected 
Arc Name: A Mythos of Mystical Mysteries
Arc ID: 84285
Morality: Neutral
It's a story-heavy arc, 3 missions long, L46-50, with 3 necessary EB/AVs (5 in total), so bring one of your strong characters if you solo it (though most of my brutes, corrs & Bane find it a decent solo challenge). The contact is Faathim the Kind - I had feedback from one person saying they had trouble clicking him, but he's clickable at waist/chest height (as I've noted in the in-game descriptive text).
I've got some useful critical feedback in-game, but as I only get that when I'm online it would be handy to get some deeper feedback here.
Arc #53149, "Whispers in the shadows"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: "Just a bunch of stuff that happens", uber Minions, no mob descriptions, superpower lottery.
The description mentions an AV, so I'll be using the Mastermind.
Your contact is Agent Sykes, a woman who look kind of like a Crey Agent, but she doesn't introduce herself, nor does she give you much information about the task at hand at all. What she does say is that she's investigating the disappearance of several scientists, the latest one being a personal friend. You're promptly directed to one of two warehouses (she'll be checking out the other one).
Sure enough, the map is an abandoned warehouse map. The enemies used are a custom faction named the Quorum of Shadows, which include such colorful characters as Minions with Mez Protection and Minions with Ninjitsu who hit for up to 700 damage at times, outdamaging the Axe-wielding Lieutenants. The Ninjitsu Minions really need to be removed or changed, and the other ones need to lose Obsidian Shield because some people actually play Controllers. Some Minions have Necromancy. Another annoyance is the Fallen Flame Lieutenants, who have relatively high-setting Fire Blast and Mez Protection.
Anyway, the goal is to rescue the Professor. You don't get a Clue or anything, and since the mobs don't have descriptions (the author did say they'd get to it though) you're completely in the dark about what's going on.
In any case, the Professor knew where the Quorum were planning on taking him, so Sykes sends you to investigate, still not telling you anything about who she is or what this is all about. Neither you nor her know anything about the Quorum. Heck, you still don't know anything about -her-, but whatever.
The next map is an abandoned office full of the same custom mobs (the entire arc uses them). The glowie seems to be set to spawn in Any location - the first time it was right around the corner from the entrance. Out of curiosity I tested it a few more times and it spawned in the middle once and in the back once. Should be set to Back, because it instantly completes the mission. Anyway, it's an Arachnos computer (odd choice) with schematics for a trans-dimensional portal on it.
Your contact figures this is what the Quorum (who look kinda like generic demons, by the way) wanted the professor for. However, she doesn't know why a bunch of extra-dimensional demons would possibly want a dimensional portal, of all things.
...
In any case, she has a lead on some place where they've got more captives, and you've got to rescue them. Upon entering you spot a surprise mission goal, "Find the Boss", on the navbar. Ah well. There's only one captive, who mentions that the others are all dead, and doesn't give you any Clues, even though you were meant to rescue him for information. Right...
Anyway, the Boss is Sorrow, an EB that looks sort of like a blue Succubus with wings. At first I thought her powersets were Dual Blades/Dark Blast, but halfway through the fight there was an Ambush. Two of the mobs were Ninjitsu minions, so I died before I could react and turn Bodyguard Mode on.
After coming back, Sorrow was surrounded by Necromancy pets, showing that I was mistaken about Dark Blast. As there were no more ambushes, the biggest threat in this fight was the Lich mezzing all my pets... Experience may vary per AT/build.
Once you take down Sorrow, you find a Clue, a bit of parchment with text you can't understand. Your contact, still not explaining anything about herself or her motivations (who the heck is she anyway?) or the Quorum, sends you to one of their hideouts, to find information on where their leader is holed up, and who's been helping them.
Finding information, it turns out, means a Defeat All on a map I've never seen before - it looks like a Skulls themed office, on fire, with some Hellion graffiti over the Skulls graffiti on the walls. Cool map, mentally noted for potential use.
The map is relatively small, and the boss is Anguish, an Ice-Something/Dark Armor Elite Boss who didn't really do much before faceplanting, therefore I can't accurately rate her difficulty... I saw a few ice blasts flying past the heads of my pets, in any case. She also has Dark Regeneration, which is EXTREMELY ANNOYING, and Soul Transfer, which is just plain annoying; her death line is fitting, though. She drops a signed document indicating the Carnies are helping them. The clue says all but the first pages are missing - aren't most signed documents signed on the final page?
For the finale, you find where their leader is hiding, and you learn that they finished a portal generator, which must be destroyed at all costs. Your contact mentions she's sent someone ahead to help you - who the heck do you work for anyway, woman?
Turns out she's PPD, not Crey as her outfit would have suggested. The ally is a custom PPD officer, AR/Super Reflexes. He uses the supersoaker, which is ruins the look a little. I think he conned as a Lieutenant.
The map is an Orangebagel map, but it seems to be a unique one as the walls were red, and it was full of pink fog. Halfway through, there's a big machine which you need to destroy - the portal generator. The boss is some small black feminine thing (couldn't see her very well due to lighting, size, and agro radius) named Twilight.
Twilight is Psionic Assault/Dark Miasma, and an Archvillain - I doubt this will be an easy fight for most people, though her lack of armor means she'll at least die fast, right?
Well, maybe if you're not a Mastermind. In a huge surprise for me, she popped Drain Psyche on her last shred of HP, and promptly started outregenerating my damage like crazy. This will not be as brutal for non-Masterminds, but it keeps the I-can-solo-anything Archetype from walking all over her too easily. She also spams Psychic Shockwave like crazy, which fortunately kept missing thanks to my debuffs.
She went down eventually, and your contact gives you a somewhat non-rewarding "We haven't seen the last of them" outro line.
Well, the story is solid, to say the least. You have your demons, and you have your planned demonic invasion, and you have to stop it. There's no background information on the demons at all, but I didn't downrank too much based on that, because the author said the missing descriptions are temporary...
The lack of contact character development is a little silly though. Some person who looks a LOT like a Crey Agent starts bossing you around randomly, and you go along with it without a question. Her dialogue was somewhat dry anyway, so that needs some work. Have her introduce herself and explain things better.
There were some problem mobs, and the faction seemed to have a semi-random assortment of powersets, which detracts from a consistent theme. The overuse of mez protection (Obsidian Shield) is a bad choice, as some ATs rely on controls for survival. The Ninjitsu Minions are horribly overpowered, because Ninjitsu is bugged - change their secondary, they're dealing twice the damage that the Axe Lieutenants are.
This is not an easy arc, but overall it's by no means a bad one. If the story were more in-depth about who the enemies and your contact are, and the mobs were fixed up a bit, it'd be great. Playable, but I don't recommend soloing it, especially if you're a Controller or Dominator.
Woot! 4 stars!! Thanks Col
As to your points, taken on board and it's nice to have some feedback.
* Noted ref introductions ( didn't even cross my mind ).
* Noted ref self-induced-stupidity.
* Noted ref supersoaker 
And the other points such as object placement etc
As for theme ( and random superpowers ), all of the Quorum *should* have dark somewhere in their powersets bar Sorrow ( necro instead ). I'll take a look and check.
And yes, the ninjitsu ones are a pain. We spotted that with a perma-faceplanted blaster when we team-tested it, but thought I would wait and make all the changes together.
Thanks for the up-front comments Colonel, I'll be taking a look at the arc this week.
Fahie
Just in case it isnt mentioned anywhere Col. 75015 may contain an AV at the end!
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
[ QUOTE ]
Just in case it isnt mentioned anywhere Col. 75015 may contain an AV at the end!
[/ QUOTE ]I really wish you had told me earlier because your Mind Control/Illusion Control monster is making me tear my hair out as we speak..!
3 deaths and counting.
lol sorry I through I mentioned it originally then became unsure
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
Arc #75015, "Fairyland Bites"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: "Just a bunch of stuff that happens", no custom mob descriptions, no Souvenir, unbelievably frustrating AV, surprise timed large outdoor glowie hunt, large outdoor defeat-all.
Used the Brute, since he's my "default" for these.
Your contact is a girl wearing the Cabal hat named Tiffany, who needs your help in stopping the Fairy Queen from invading Paragon City. For those of you who don't see anything threatening about a bunch of fairies, I'd like to remind you you're playing a video game where Everything Is Tryng To Kill You. Tiffany doesn't exactly seem to have a lot of faith in your offer to help, though...
Anyway, your first task is to recover Tiffany's book of spells (strangely enough the mission title calls it "Elspeth's book") from her village, which turns out to be a Salamanca street map, overrun with Tuatha de Dannan. Tiffany mentioned that she doesn't remember where she put it, but her mother might know where it is, and sure enough, her mother is held hostage by the Tuatha. Freeing her earns you the book. Her father is also nearby, and both parents being freed, the mission ends.
With surprisingly little thanks for saving her parents from an army of moss-covered moose men, Tiffany next sends you to enlist the aid of the "Little People" - by beating them up, naturally.
The Little People turn out to be blonde Smurf-like creatures in a Redcap Cave map. The goal is to defeat them all, and take down their leader, who is a Dual Blades/Willpower Elite Boss, and apparently the local Smurfette. After completing the mission, Tiffany claims the Smurf-like-creatures will aid you any time you need them, from now on.
Next, Tiffany says you need to enter the Fairies' realm itself, and find out what the Queen's plans are. The map is a rather huge Eden (Hive?) map, and surprisingly less full of fairies than I'd have expected. Indeed, instead of fairies, the Fairy Queen's realm seems to be populated entirely by Devouring Earth. The strange choice of map and mobs made this feel more like a flashback to Vernon von Grun's arc for me...
The really sad thing about this mission is that 1) It's a Surprise Timed Mission, 45 minutes, and 2) It's a glowie hunt. That's right, the huge Eden/Hive map, find 4 piles of rubble between all the stone pillars. One of the most unfortunate map choices I've seen so far, to be honest... Wish I could've used those Smurfs to help me search the place.
After wasting 30 of the 45 minutes running around looking for that one last pile of rubble, the fact that I had turned my speaker volume up to ridiculous levels paid off, and I found the last one. In these piles of rubble were four map pieces, which show that the Queen's set up camp in a parking lot somewhere in Paragon City...
In the finale, Tiffany sends you to stop the Queen. Or, well, beat her up anyway, since she's already in Paragon. Also, that book of spells you got for her, and those Smurfs you beat up? Forgotten. You get help from none of them. I guess she was just jerking you around to test your mettle or something. She still has the nerve to tell you you're probably going to die to the Queen anyway. How about helping me with that book and the Smurfs then, damn you.
The map is the Kings Row map, which many of you will remember for its size. Guess what, it's a Defeat All.
*cry of anguish*
Another goal is to defeat the Queen. After criss-crossing the entire damn map for her, I figured out why I couldn't find her.
One of her powersets is Illusion Control, so she has Superior Invisibility. Yeah.
Anyway, after I eventually accidentally bumped into her to agro her, she immediately Terrorized me, and then Confused me. Her other powerset? Mind Control. Illusion/Mind, Archvillain downranked to Elite Boss. Left completely helpless, my Brute was mercilessly slaughtered.
Attempt 2, popped a breakfree with another on hand. By the way, I haven't described the custom faction yet! They're all wearing Jester gear, minus the mask, and color coded based on abilities - and there's a LOT of variety, not necessarily in the good sense. You've got Plant Control, all sorts of Blasts, Ice Armor, Fire Armor... everything. Though, being magical fairies, I suppose this doesn't count as a random superpower lottery. It's still horrible to face, though.
Moreso when fighting the abovementioned EB Queen. While she confuses/terrorizes/holds/blinds/whatevers you, her illusions, phantasm, and surrounding mobs throw everything they can at you, and you can't hurt them back due to being Confused. Popping a Breakfree helped, but even so the incoming damage was just ridiculous. I took down most of her spawn (difficult due to Blind flooring my ToHit) and took another dirt nap.
Attempt 3, stocked up on breakfrees and lucks. Popping 4 lucks, I charged in and got hit with another Confuse somehow, then popped a breakfree and eventually took her down.
*Exhale.*
Not being masochistic, I quit the arc after that. Sorry, but I'm not going to clear an entire zone's worth of mobs for a Defeat All, and neither are most other sane players, so I can't share the epilogue with you.
The story is fairly random. The first few missions have you preparing for a big climactic fight, and then it turns out those two missions were actually useless wastes of time. It is never fully explained who or what the Fairy Queen is, and what her motivations and intentions are, or even if she's actually evil at all. Some chick in a hat just tells you to go beat stuff up.
The third and fourth missions are epic failures. Surprise Timed Mission is bad enough, but a glowie hunt on -that- map? Seriously? You could've at least picked something huge and noticeable, but you picked the Rubble. The fourth mission is worse - it's not timed, but it's even more frustrating due to being a gigantic defeat all, on a huge map famous for having mobs hide in the damnedest places imaginable within its criss-crossing alleyways. Plus the AV is a royal pain, and not in the fun sense.
Needs heavy polish. The concept is good, but the story fails to deliver. The "Go beat up blue people for no reason" mission, why was that even there? And the final two missions need a serious rethinking. The custom mobs need descriptions, and it needs a Souvenir. I might replay this sometime in the future when it's hopefully been thoroughly improved.
I'll throw mine in for critique:
its a first publish so please be brutal its the only way to learn!
Arc ID: 98613
Morality: Neutral
Name: AE combat evaluator
brief description: a simulator to see just how good your toon really is. just a combat simulation (or is it? insert dun dun duuuun music here)
Missions: 5 (two very short, 1 very easy)
level 20+
No AVs (didnt see the need. custom mobs (some) , no defeat all missions.
Could do with any pointers on tying the last two missions into the rest of the arc. I've manage dit but it feels a little... clunky...
Thanks Col - I knew it would need adjustments - now I know where to start!
The Tiffany/Elspeth thing - should have been elspeth all the way through but confusion caused by crashes didnt help lol!
Map: I though the Hive map was pretty easy - as it aparently is not I iwll consider other, more appropriate ones - and also for the final map size for Defeat Al.
As for the Little Pople - there is an ally somewhere on the map in the for of a small blue EB - a smaller map will make her easier to find I feel
Thanks for the honest appraisal - hopefully it should be much better when tweaked!
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
[ QUOTE ]
The glowie seems to be set to spawn in Any location - the first time it was right around the corner from the entrance. Out of curiosity I tested it a few more times and it spawned in the middle once and in the back once. Should be set to Back, because it instantly completes the mission. Anyway, it's an Arachnos computer (odd choice) with schematics for a trans-dimensional portal on it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Just in case anyone else encounters this problem, just checked and the item *was* set to back.
Seems there may be a minor buggete!
Fahie
I'm confident enough in my second arc to finally submit it for a review.
#85541, The Hand of Cobalt. A scientist needs help with a simple problem. But a clandestine organisation is pulling the strings... (Two Elite Bosses in separate missions, and a fleshed out custom group. Comments and feedback are demanded!)
I think this arc is much more polished and engaging than the first, due to being much newer, made with the experience I got making the Butcher's Telemetry. But that might just be me saying "Oooh, new, shiny!", so you never know.
This arc isn't designed to be frustratingly hard. I tried to make it only slightly more difficult than a canon arc. You may find some Bosses frustrating, but after encountering a Master Illusionist while doing some canon arcs, I realised that nothing of mine was really bad. Every boss in the story has their flaws.
It's also a much brighter arc than my first. It isn't particularly lovey-dovey, but the ending is more satisfying.
If a Boss or Elite Boss gives you too much stick, throw us a comment. I'll fix it.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
Putting 'An Exchange Of Words' back into the review list after the unfortunate mission 4 non spawn-appearance thing. Arc ID 5591
While I couldn't duplicate the bug I've ripped a bunch of stuff out to provide more "space" on the map. Also rechosen the first 3 maps to make things easier and nailed a few typos (I know I've not gotten them all, the damn things breed whenever you turn your back).
Defiant 50: Blonde Justice inv/ss; Lady Aminta emp/elec; Sierra Colt merc/traps; Tess LaCoyle elec/elec (blaster); Powerstorm elec/elec (brute);
Union 50: @Steel Dancer WP/DB; Blast Pulse Fire/Rad (corr); Bitter Twilight Earth/Psi (dom); Compassionate Emp/Psi;
Freedom 50: Incandescent Blaze ElecAm/Fire;
[ QUOTE ]
Putting 'An Exchange Of Words' back into the review list after the unfortunate mission 4 non spawn-appearance thing. Arc ID 5591
While I couldn't duplicate the bug I've ripped a bunch of stuff out to provide more "space" on the map. Also rechosen the first 3 maps to make things easier and nailed a few typos (I know I've not gotten them all, the damn things breed whenever you turn your back).
[/ QUOTE ]Will take a look once I work through the other ones on the list. I'm interested in finding out how it continues.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Putting 'An Exchange Of Words' back into the review list after the unfortunate mission 4 non spawn-appearance thing. Arc ID 5591
While I couldn't duplicate the bug I've ripped a bunch of stuff out to provide more "space" on the map. Also rechosen the first 3 maps to make things easier and nailed a few typos (I know I've not gotten them all, the damn things breed whenever you turn your back).
[/ QUOTE ]Will take a look once I work through the other ones on the list. I'm interested in finding out how it continues.
[/ QUOTE ]
Almost afraid to ask this: just how many arcs do you have up for review atm?
Defiant 50: Blonde Justice inv/ss; Lady Aminta emp/elec; Sierra Colt merc/traps; Tess LaCoyle elec/elec (blaster); Powerstorm elec/elec (brute);
Union 50: @Steel Dancer WP/DB; Blast Pulse Fire/Rad (corr); Bitter Twilight Earth/Psi (dom); Compassionate Emp/Psi;
Freedom 50: Incandescent Blaze ElecAm/Fire;
Um, twenty-something. Seems like each one I get done is replaced by one or two new ones! Should update the list, will do tomorrow.
Well if you ever need any help tackling the mountain I'm always here =P
As I said in the beginning, I'm not trying to claim a monopoly. Anyone is free to do their own reviews in this thread or their own if they wish.
I'm loving the badge credit though, heh.
Anyway, my video card is telling me we both need a rest, so I'm off for the night. (I'm also unable to defeat the AV in the arc I'm on right now, which might have something to do with it. )
I may as well throw my arcs into the lobster pot.
Dear Mister Col.
I would very much appreciate it if you could cast your barometric eye over my humble mission arcs, the details of which can be seen in my signature below.
Yours sincerely,
Hero 2.
Please fight My Brute: http://2hero.mybrute.com
Mission Architect 54161 - Michael Mundano, Megan Malloney and the Secret Senate.
Mission Architect 91838 - Constantinople Jones' Family Secret. A One Mission Story arc.
[ QUOTE ]
Overall I'm glad you enjoyed it and I WILL be looking at pretty much every point you've raised to improve the arc further, only one that really stumps me so far is what to change the 80's PPD to as I couldnt find a set that wasnt overly super as a secondary ( plus the whole 80's kung fu movie does look quite amusing on my play throughs )
again, suggestions from all welcome!!!
[/ QUOTE ]
Instead of Super Strength, use War Mace. As you're using 80s policemen, use Police Baton or Police Nightstick. Not sure when Nightsticks (the kind you see in-game) were introduced in America, so may be safer to use Police Baton.
Ideon's Paragonwiki page
Member of Paragon/Rogue Knights
Arc: 60092 - Supa Rumble in the Park
"Keep living the dream, and never let any jerk tell you what to do."
-- High-Roller