The perils of 'official' content

I don't think they have any outside of the CoT or the Quaterfield TF.

today's adventure in 'official' content:

Running a new archery/elec blaster (never played either set, so it was a marriage of convenience- fun so far).

Farmed to 6th and headed for King's Row to pick up my raptor pack, then thought "hey, why not run a contact, just to see what happens?

Here's what happened:
"go talk to this dude in the Hollows! (how about no? *drop*)
one mission right next to him (yay)
one mission across the zone (boo, but expected)
one pretty cool mission, destroying Superdyne labs.

So far, so good. I imagine all three of these are fairly recent additions. Even with the running it was pretty fun and felt like I was involved in battling crime. Dukeing it out with drug runners seems like a good gig for an inexperienced hero.

Then...."hey, here are your two options- talk to the Perez Park security dude, or.....hunt Skulls in Perez Park."

sigh.
I figure I'll be crafty and chat with the dude first, since I know it'll just be another street sweep in Perez.

I get to Atlas, trek over to the security chief and get my "arrest 10 circle in perez". Man it's been a long time since I did this one!

Flight makes it MUCH easier though. I flapped over all the Hellions and whatnot and found a likely spawn with only a couple of yellow lieutenants.
Popped some inspirations and after a bit of kiting managed to finish them off. Flight kept me away from their nasty melee attacks and being a blaster was very helpful.

Call the guy.
"Good job! now about those Skulls..."

They are (of course) on the other side of the map, by the Galaxy gate.
Old days? NIGHTMARE JOURNEY.
Now? Bee-line right over the forest with my neato jetpack!

Repeat my strategy with the CoT- find a big spawn of whites with limited lieutenant action and whittle them away.

Call the guy.
"oh wow, nice....but I can't give you any more missions until you're 9th level!"

I was pretty close, so I headed back to Kings through Galaxy and did some street sweeping en route.
I hit 9th.
Call the guy.

"uh...I got nothing for you, but here are some other contacts...."

...


Such is the life of the official content runner, I suppose.

Note that this whole time I was jogging and flapping past various AE buildings, which were whispering sweet nothings in my ear...."no travel time....on site hospital....inspiration vendor in the lobby...."

so, mixed bag today. The few missions I managed to extract from my contact were engaging, but by the time I did all the running and street hunting he's burned up my goodwill and I was left feeling resentful.

Guh, I'd forgotten that particular "joy" of the olden days. =(

Coming tomorrow- my adventures with Sanjay Gupta!

So, my archery/electric blaster the Silver Bee has about out-levelled Kings Row and I figure I'll hit a zone I have intentionally avoided for a very long time, Skyway City. Someone introduced me to Sanjay Chandra & I hop on the train to check things out.

He's standing right next next to the train station- nice!
The first missions on offer are one of those stupid 'security chief' things or a Lost hunt in Kings. I figure beating up some blue & green lost won't take too long, and I'm right by the train so I opt for that one.
Sort of annoying getting a hunt in the zone I've just left behind, but whatever.

Next up is CONFISCATE THE DRUGS while defeating Toothbreaker & Crew.
This is strikingly similar to the DISRUPT DRUG PRODUCTION & defeat Bonebreaker & Crew mission I'd just run in Kings with some other contact. Oh well, at least it's not a hunt.

Next up is one of those missions I detest. More skulls and drugs, but it's a 'find 5 bombs, rescue 5 hostages' in a giant office map and it's timed.
Once I get there and start blasting away, I discover the bombs are those stupid LITTLE ones, not the big oil drum kind. Extra annoyance, just what I love in a mission!

I finish it off and check in with Sanjay.
"Oh, I don't have anything more for you until you hit 10th."

This is sounding familiar...

I'm pretty close, so I buzz around and pick off a few smallish spawns around my level until I Gratz, then head back.

"Ok, now that you're 10th level....go hunt 10 skulls in Kings Row!

Are you kidding me?

No, he isn't.
I backtrack to Kings again, blow away some gray & green skulls, wonder why he thought I needed to be 10th level to perform this arduous task, and jump back on the train.

For my grand finale with good ol' Sanjay I get the infamous Unlucky Pete mission, which I'd almost forgotten about. Back in the day this was one of those ridiculous 'front loaded' missions that were so dear to Statesman's heart and which inspired my first argument with him.

Back then, our team of three zoned in and found a huge spawn of reds and oranges, which we managed to defeat through attrition after a couple of team wipes and a lot of running back from the hospital. With our virtual adrenaline pumping, we charged ahead....only to discover that once we cracked the hard candy shell the spawns became progressively less challenging. By the time we cornered Unlucky Pete, he was gray. And yes, this was an intentional design choice that Statesy chose to argue about with me.
Sigh.

There is still something wonky about the balance- spawns seemed to alternate randomly between greens and blues and yellows and oranges, but at least Unlucky Pete isn't gray anymore.

Overall, I give Sanjay a D-. His missions are boring level-inappropriate hunts in the zone you just left and re-hashed Skulls/Superdine missions nearly indistinguishable from the ones I got from Ron Hughes. Nostaliga for Unlucky Pete saves him from being a complete failure.

Up next- Tristain Caine.

lots of mapserving going on this AM, so I only got partway through his offerings.

First mission, a 'save a million hostages' on a big office map stuffed with Vaz.
Blech.
I've avoided them for so long I forgot how wretched they are, but it all came flooding back to me with the first wave of toxic puke & poison slow darts.

Next up, a standard 'stop boss and crew' that could have come straight off the Police radio. Except with more Vaz, which I'd never pick on purpose.

Oh, and now a HUNT! Oh boy! Back to King's Row to mow more grays- thanks, Tristan!

And what's this, now you want me to take this paper I got to the City Rep in Atlas? Oh boy, I bet there's a REALLY COOL dialog waiting for me at City Ha.....Ah hahahahahaha, I crack myself up sometimes!

Now I'm trying to save the city's water supply from poisoning, which is suitably heroic, but the mapserving derailed me after the first spawn. Which was cool- they were guarding a barrel of toxic waste that healed the Vaz and did damage to me, which I thought was cool. Seems like a neat mission, I'm looking forward to clearing it tonight.

And I'm wondering why all the missions I got from this guy sent me to Kings or Atlas?
If it was the old days, when contacts didn't give you their # until it was too late to do you any good, I've have been enraged at having to run back to Skyway and halfway across the zone to pick up my next boring hunt or scanner mission equivalent.

Also, being able to fly is a big help against the Vaz. On most maps it lets you neutralize their brutal melee damage & takes the exploding guys out of the mix. I picked up hover at six (thematic choice- the Bee has to fly & I've already bought and attached her insect wings), but the raptor pack would serve anyone in good stead.

I took a screen of a particularly well-populated hallway, I'll try and remember to post it when I finish the arc tonight.

I wanted to believe in the mission writing, but it requires way too much suspension of disbelief. There are kill-alls that tell me that I picked up a clue in the most boring way. Half the time I don't read those stupid clues. In fact, the clue UI is GARBAGE.

In all my 50 levels the clues have been crappy and have failed to enhance the plot enough. They have been used as substitutes for excellent, up-front storytelling. When I can ignore the mission instructions and just turn up my speakers for glowies while mindlessly spamming all my attacks until my enemies die and using my travel power to zoom into the next pull, that is BORING.

Where's the thought?

Going Rogue could potentially be more of the same. I have been paying attention to the way they've handled information and press releases. They seem to want to make us think something tremendous is in store. Well, I don't think so. I feel they are placing a veil over Going Rogue and when they lift it many people will be disappointed.

Okay, finished up Tristans arc last night.

The lead up pretty much stunk, but the last mission was very enjoyable. It felt suitably heroic (saving the city's water supply from Vaz poison is definitely hero stuff), it was quite a challenge (not sure why my 'heroic' difficulty level earns me multiple orange Mortificators, but whatever), and as I mentioned the foaming barrels of poison I had to destroy were pretty cool & necessitated a bit more strategy than usual to nullify.

It's interesting how much better that one (relatively) minor detail made the mission. If they'd been just a regular old barrel, like a million other barrels I've run across in the game, it would have probably felt like any other mission. But the toxic waves rolling off it gave the whole mission a different atmosphere.

I'll give Tristan a C+ for passing the final. The rest of his arc was just as boring and annoying as Sanjay, but it closed with a bang.

I have a taste for some more recent content now, to provide a contrast.
Where should a level 12 blaster go to score some storylines of more recent vintage? Am I grown up enough for Faultline yet?