1 to 50 in MA: Part II (suggest arcs)

So inspired by Pro Payne's experiment, and because I need something to make leveling up another character interesting, I too am conducting a 1-50 in MA experiment.

My name is Dawnrazor. I am a Katana/Invul Scrapper. I am currently Security Level 1, and standing in the lobby of the Galaxy City AE building. My mission: to get to level 50, and trick myself out with IOs, using only the Architect Entertainment system.

The parameters of this experiment are as follows:

I will not earn experience outside of MA. I will be leaving on occasion, to get my Safeguards, and collect accolades and unlockable weapons, but I will turn off XP outside MA and run on the lowest difficulty to minimize inf gain. I will be using the market to earn inf and buy IOs, but I will only purchase items for my own personal use, and to craft recipes earned through ticket rolls (ie no flipping or buying recipes to craft and resell).

The only time I'll earn any XP outside of MA is when I finish a mission with a smidge to level and there is nothing left to kill, then I'll grab a badge or three to ding rather than play through most of the next mission at -1.

I will need arcs to play. Lots of arcs. Feel free to suggest arcs, however whether or not I play a suggested arc depends entirely on a few factors:

I will not play any arc with Extreme anything in it, ever. If I see that warning, the arc is off my list, UNLESS the arc description or the post in this thread indicates that the Extreme critters are friendlies or noncombatants.

I will not play any arc with Custom Groups and a level range of 1-54. The only 1-54 arcs I'll play are ones that contain standard groups like Council, Longbow, or Arachnos.

I will not fight custom Archvillains before SOs.

I will not be sidekicking up to play arcs. If you submit an arc above my current level, I will put it in the list, and wait until I reach that level to play it. I will be updating the thread frequently, so please don't post arcs way way above my current level. If I run out of arcs, I'm going to use the "random" button to search for Final and Looking for Feedback arcs at My Level.

I would like to avoid exemping. I realize that you still earn XP while exemped, but I like getting new powers. Once I start collecting set bonuses, I would like to keep those as well. I will be posting updates, with my current level; please don't submit arcs below that level.

The ultimate deciding factor on whether or not I play an arc is simply, do I feel like it right now? If the description makes it sound like something that just won't appeal to me, I won't play it. If I want to run a quick arc, I won't play a five-mission epic. If I've played five CoT arcs in the last week, I probably won't want to play a sixth.

Another thing I am going to be a jerk about: My difficulty settings. I'll be running at +0/x1/no/no until SOs. After that it'll be +1/x1/yes/no, after I get Invinciblity at 28 it'll be +1/x2/yes/no, and it'll go up from there. I may turn it down a notch for an arc marked "challenge" or anything with custom critters in the 20s, but I'm not going too far below my usual difficulty, or deviating too much from my usual playstyle. If I have to pull on every spawn, or run to the inspiration vendor every few minutes, then your arc is probably too hard for my level.

And yes, I know the weaknesses of my powersets. I won't be judging an arc "too hard" simply because it contains something my powersets do poorly against. I've also played a LOT of other powersets, and I think I'm qualified to tell the difference between poor balance/deliberate player-killer and my own personal Achilles heel.

Why am I being such a jerk about these things? As I play more and more arcs, I have come to realize that one of the major draws of the system, the ability to create and fight unique custom enemies that you have never encountered before, is being horribly abused by people who don't know what they're doing and can't be bothered to learn, or who stubbornly refuse to help make the system more user-friendly. Bad custom groups are helping to drive people away from MA I think, and so I want to discourage them as much as possible.

Reviews? Maybe. Depends how this goes.

Edit: Forgot to add: I will play arcs of any genre, and even though I am a hero I will play villainous arcs, as long as the enemy groups spawn properly for heroes. (If they don't, please state the "heroic" level range of the arc in your post.)

Things I like: Good use of mechanics to tell a story. Lots of flavor objectives. Stuff to read, and yes I do read everything.

Things I don't like: Disjointed level ranges. 1-54 level range. Big maps full of enemies standing around doing nothing. The aforementioned overpowered customs. Overpowered allies. "Optional" objectives that really aren't (like the "optional" AV blocking the hallway).

Oh, and please state the Arc ID and level range of the arc when you submit to this thread, for ease of making my "to play" list.

Well let me be the first to welcome you to the club, then, and suggest some arcs to get you started.

Learning The Ropes was specifically written as an alternate 'intro' to the game (with Back Alley Brawler acting as your first contact). If you like, you can then follow it with Cracking Skulls and The Lazarus Project.

All three arcs are listed in my signature, along with their arc ID's. Hope you enjoy them!

EDIT: Oh, and level ranges. Learning the Ropes is 1-10. Cracking Skulls is 1-14. The Lazarus Project is 1-20.

A bit of a jump from the last arc, but my arc "Astoria in D Minor" is a 20-29 arc, info is in my signature.

I have three low level arcs. I tried to make them a true trilogy, each part telling its own story. No EB/AVs in any of the missions. The first one has quite a few plays already, but I am always happy to hear feedback. And I know that people have successfully ran it at levels 1-5, although the last mission can be a pain that low.

Fighting the Future

Title: Future Skulls
ID: 4727
Levels: 1-15
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: The Skulls are just a street gang now. But they have big plans for the future. Mirror Spirit asks for your help to stop one of them. [SFMA/LBMA]

Title: Simple Times
ID: 70801
Levels: 5-14
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: Talshak the Mystic has asked for your help with a minor clean up mission in a warehouse. Happens all the time, no big deal, just giving someone a quick helping hand. At least that was how it started. Sequel to Future Skulls, 4727. [SFMA/LBMA]

Title: Future's End
ID: 255895
Levels: 5-14
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: Mirror Spirit has contacted you again. It is time to finish off the Future Skulls, and she thinks she know how. Can you stop the Future's End? Follow up to Future Skulls, 4727. and Simple Times, 70801. [SFMA/LBMA]

Feedback welcomed in the Fighting the Future Trilogy thread.

Assuming you haven't outleveled the range already:

Mercytown: The One With All The Fish Arc ID: 6017
lvl 1-10

Ok, reviewy time cause I felt like it after all.

Dawnrazor's very first arc is, appropriately enough, "Learning the Ropes."

The premise is that I'm a starting hero going off on my very first mission. Not much of a stretch there. My contact is Back Alley Brawler, who apparently spends a lot of time listening to the police scanner while he's standing around in Galaxy. The Hellions and Skulls are at each others throats again, so off I go to save the day.

It's awfully quiet in here, considering there's supposed to be a gang battle going on. I did see some battle spam pop up in my global, but no dialogue to go with, and of course the battles were over long before I got there. Cute name on the Skull leader; dropping him gets me to level 3.


I feel much stronger now. Train me up!

Off to the real BaBs to train up, then back to holo-BaBs for my next mission. My introduction to the world of heroing continues, as I am introduced to the Clockwork. I take care of them, then it's on to the Vahzilok...starting to see a pattern here?


Well, well, looks like the Vahz aren't alone down here. Nice to see some interaction between the enemy groups, and objectives scattered throughout the map to keep it interesting.

Next up: A bunch of glowy-eyed guys in dresses who like to hang out in dank blue caves. Apparently whatever horrible things they planned to do to their hapless captives included poor fashion choices; the "clubbers" they've captured look more like 1960s businessmen. I learn some bad things about the CoT during the course of the mission, but was spared the ultimate horror of the dreaded Layer Cake Cave.

For my final task I'm sent up against the Council. BaBs gives me his "never say Nazi" briefing, and off I go. A few more villain groups make cameos in this mission, I "arrest" them all and report back to BaBs, who tells me I've done a good job and recommends I talk to some of his friends in the PPD.

Which I think I'll do, because I'm now level 5. Essentially I've just completed all the starter hero contacts in one arc. Each mission I got my intro to a lowbie villain group, a little blurb from BaBs as to what they're all about, then I foiled their typical plot. This arc is exactly what it says on the label.

Where it falls short is that it could have done more. Most of the missions are pretty empty of flavor dialogue that could have served to help my newbie hero learn more about the villains I'm facing. There are a few hints of bigger things (the Warriors reference was a bit obvious though; perhaps replace "Warriors" with a specific, obviously Warrior-ish name?), but there's a sense of finality to these missions, as if foiling this one little plot means I'm done with these guys. I'm not done. I'm just getting started.

Next up: "Mercytown" jumps the queue due to capping out at 10.

Just wanted to compliment you on your name. "Dawnrazor" is one of my favourite songs.

#6017

It's time for Dawnrazor to see how the other half lives. Today I am playing the part of a villain, freshly escaped from the Zig, who as penance for her crimes is sent to the first circle of Hell: A place called Mercy Island where I shall be tormented for all eternity by a mad scientist's inane ramblings.

My contact is Dmitri Krylov, a Soviet researcher who needs my help building an amphibian super-army out of some Coralax creatures that are like sea monkeys but totally different. He claims to have sought me out personally...I feel special. And a little scared.

I hit the beach to find an exemplary specimen of Coralaxhood for Krylov to study. Of course, to my unscientific eye they all look kinda the same, so I just grab the one that isn't trying to kill me and tell Krylov it was the best one I could find. Along the way I overhear some disturbing chatter...about a book and a Deep One? Uh oh. This sounds vaguely familiar.


One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

Ok Krylov, here's your fish-thing, now do I get paid now? Not yet? Ok fine, let's see if I can get my hands on that book, it's probably valuable and I'm broke and for some reason craving sushi.

Welcome to the second circle of Hell: where the greedy shall be forever tormented by someone else showing up before you and stealing what was rightfully yours to steal. At least they were kind enough to leave a clue.

Or, maybe stupid enough. I pull Krylov away from his research long enough for him to make some sense of the clue I found, and to tell me what he's learned about my fish-thing. I don't ask how he learned it, as I don't think I want to know. Nothing to see here comrade, I am 100% pure human, no mutations, nothing at all interesting about me. Just put the scalpel down...I think I'll go get that book now. Bye.

I enter the third circle, which is full of bad music and two-bit thugs who will tell me everything except what I want to know. Oooh, customs. They are appropriately wimpy for this level, and don't give me too much trouble. After squealing some useless but amusing info, I finally get something useful out of one of them. Back to Krylov, where I am somewhat surprised to find out our fishy friend is still alive.

The Fourth circle: ah, there's the fire and brimstone I was promised. Fortunately, all bookshelves are fireproof. Amid the collected works of Stephanie Meyer, I find something that is relevant to my current interests. Aaaand, there's the jerk who kidnapped what I was going to rightfully steal. Memo to jerk: when a book says "do not open" on the cover, you probably shouldn't open it. Weeeell, maybe a little peek won't hurt..."Ph'nglui mglw'nafh..." eep, I'd better not.

And on to the fifth and final circle, where you have to do heroic things to protect your own self-interest. Either that, or grow gills. I'm sure Krylov would offer to help me with that, if I were to ask, but I choose the lesser of two evils.

Poor fishy, I feel your pain, I really do. Still, better you than me. How did that barrel of acid get there? Still, I do what I need to do, showing a complete and utter disregard for not-quite-human life like the villain I am. Now when do I get paid?

Overall an amusing take on the Lovecraftian homage which you kind of expect when you deal with the Coralax. I've seen this story before, in some form or another; the humor is what kept it from being stale. The contact was well-chosen, both for his, um, unconventional approach to research and his over-the-top characterization, and the jokes never got in the way of the overall storyline.

Excellent arc.

"Glory Days" is 25-30. Check it out when you get there. I think/hope you'll like it.

"Bricked Electronics" is a good 10-15 arc, and "Dream Paper" should work alright from 15-20.

1-50 in AE?! why that's CRAZY talk!

(sorry, couldn't help myself)

GL, and rock on! \m/

Cracking Skulls
#115935
Level 1-14

Only a brief review here, since I write these as I go along and I kinda forgot to take notes with this one.

A solid introductory arc to the Skulls, where Dawnrazor met an old friend (or well, maybe not a friend, actually he tried to kill me last time too) and learned a bit about Superdyne and the Skulls' death obsession. Unfortunately the arc can't seem to make up its mind as to what kind of mood it wants to evoke; I'm assisting in a police investigation, which is fine, and this aspect works well (bonus points for not needing to defeat all because the police will come clean up what's left...except this time they actually do), but the tone within the missions varies from humorous to downright creepy, so I'm not entirely sure what kind of reaction I'm supposed to have. A more consistent tone would really improve immersion for this arc. I vote for creepy.

*****

Future Skulls
#4727
Mostly level 1-14, Mission 2 is 1-15, like that one scratch on your brand new coffee table that looks so ugly but to get rid of it you'd have to sand the whole thing down and refinish it....or just manually set the mission to cap out at 14.

Mirror Spirit has seen a vision of a ruined future, the cause is...the Skulls. Yeah yeah, they're small-time NOW, but she's divined that they're on a path that leads to destroying the world. She's not sure what they're up to though, so it's up to me to find out.

Walk into the hideout, not too surprised to find it a mess. Blah blah blah ritual, blah blah blah sacrifice, blah blah blah can't stop us...uh-oh, sacrifice? Not this time pal. I beat up the head Skull and go find what Mirror Spirit wants me to find...and it's not pleasant. I think the next time I see a leather-bound book in a death-obsessed gang's hideout, I am NOT going to fondle it to see if the leather feels "like no kind of leather I'm familiar with." It's made out of people. They're all made out of people. I already know this before I even pick the thing up so I'm gonna keep my gloves on so as not to leave fingerprints on the evidence.

Well according to Mirror Spirit it's some kind of Frankenritual, something that'll awaken Merulina, which would be bad, if it works, and will end badly even if it doesn't. I sort of wonder how the Skulls have heard of the Coralax, let alone Merulina...they're more into 'Dyne and necromancy, not so much slumbering ancient goddesses, but anyway...off I go to investigate that piece of the puzzle, while the Mirror Spirit calls in her other friends to go talk to Azuria.

Hmm, nice architecture. How did it get under Paragon City? Shouldn't fish-dudes be living in a dank moldy cave like all the other monsters? Maybe one of those caves that are all over the Hollows, which is the only place they hang out that I have any business being in?I'm also not quite sure how Mirror Spirit figures they were under a spell, since they were acting like Coralax normally do. Also not sure why I don't tell her about the not-Coralax I fought.

And now I have to go to after the Skulls do what they are going to do and find out what they did, and once again "it's magic," except if they screw it up, I could go poof. Such easy access to such powerful magic, letting me go into the future and all, which would normally be reserved for powerful villains who go through all kinds of effort to acquire the ability, and such an important mission to trust to a newb like me.../em checks shirt...nope, not red, phew. You know Mirror Spirit, you're a mystical vision sort, maybe you could get some of those Midnighter friends of yours to just focus this vision thing a bit, let me get into your head and poke around the future that way...just a thought.

Wait, these aren't Skulls! They're...Future Skulls! Very Skully. Also, slightly monstrous, in that misshapen, no-longer-human kinda way. (Or at least the first few I run into are that way. As I proceed further, most of the Future Skulls turn out to be repaints. This is good, as it means most of them are appropriately wussy, and the customs aren't too bad in such small numbers.) My information-giver was suitably creepy, but didn't tell me anything about what Merulina had to do with it, or what was up with those other guys the skulls were fighting and beat up before I got there.

Huh? So it was a dream? Why wasn't I told it would just be a dream, that would have made me feel better about going in...

So now Mirror Spirit and her friends can find the ritual, so I can go stop it. Because they can't. Everyone else is inconvenienced or dead, and it's up to little ole me to save the world. Again, check for red shirt. Nope, all good. Ok. I'll go save the world. I find it somewhat convenient from a story perspective that all the big bad heroes are out of action, leaving the big heroics up to the lowbie.


Nefarious rituals can always be spotted by that tell-tale green glow.

Overall, the plot was appropriately Skullish, and it started out appropriately lowbieish, but then toward the end got a little too epic too fast. The explanation for why I personally had to go stop the Skulls from destroying the world at level 8 was rather contrived. However, despite being part of a trilogy this arc did have a conclusion, albeit with a "....for now" leaving it open for the sequel.

*****

So yeah, Dawnrazor is now level 8. Divine Avalanche, how I love thee. Also, the ticket vendor will now sell me salvage, so I bought two Pangean Soils with the tickets I've accumulated so far (that's over 1000 tickets by level 8) and now I have 4 million inf.

Looking at my time spent online would be misleading, since I'm not wasting time on travel, but on the other hand I am spending time writing up these reviews while playing. I have played four arcs, totaling 17 missions, and I'm level 8.5. Would I be higher level if I'd done dev-created content? Probably. On the other hand I have 4 million inf, which is far more than I would have made running official content.

Next up: Part 2 and 3 of Future Skulls.

Between my new job, helping judge the MA Player Awards, new Halloween badges and real-life Halloween stuff, Dawnrazor hasn't been logged in for 26 days. But most of that is done with now, so we now return to our regularly scheduled experiment.

-----

Simple Times
#70801

Work in Progress? After six months and 70 plays, I hope not.

I am contacted by Talshak the Mystic, who wants me to clear some Minions of Igneous out of a warehouse in Kings Row. My cannon dissonance sense is tingling.... but let's see what's up.

Fortunately the warehouse isn't too big, because those guys hit hard. One of them talks, and knows my name; I'm hoping Talshak can explain that since Igneous are usually unintelligile unless your name is Sam Wincott, but he doesn't.

He does do some mystic mumbo jumbo and discovers there's a mystic artifact involved. There's always a mystic artifact involved. Then he sends me off to the Hollows, to fight more Igneous in their natural element. I get a sketch of the amulet to take with me, in case the Igneous have more than one. Actually it is very easy to believe something this small is trouble. Fun fact: half of all magical MacGuffin quests involve jewelry of some kind.

It's only the second mission, so of course the amulet isn't here, and there's an added complication, since half of all magical MacGuffin quests at this level involve the Hellions in some manner. And half of those mention the Warriors. But now the Skulls are involved, and mystical MacGuffin quests usually don't involve them.

Oh, right, this is part of a trilogy. Now it actually links up with the first arc. And apparently death is a polygamist. The clue and the description make sense if you played the first arc, but perhaps a mission complete clue could be added to provide more information for those that didn't. The mission return briefing could also use a few tweaks to that effect.

So off to the last mission, where I save the world for today, and Talshak ties up some loose ends and leaves a few more open for part 3.

This arc earns the Dawnrazor Multi-parter Partial Seal of Approval for being mostly able to stand on its own. With a few tweaks it would be completely capable of it, while still tying into the larger storyline. Talshak's "When you helped Mirror Spirit defeat the Future Skulls" line is very jarring and unneccessary, since the Skulls are barely involved at that point except for a little bit of foreshadowing. A few dialogue tweaks in the last two missions, and a few extra clues, and this arc could stand on its own quite nicely.

There is also the question of how the Igneous speak English. A quick scan of ParagonWiki implies that their presence isn't limited to the Hollows, but a bit of expository dialogue to that effect would eliminate the need to look it up. Also, since when do they speak English? If this is canon, again a bit of explanation would be nice, and if it isn't canon a lot of explanation is needed.

-----
Dawnrazor is now level 9.5. The third arc in the Future Skulls trilogy will get me to 10 at least, and then I only have three arcs to tide me over until 15. Need moar arcs.

I know this is wayyyyy off but when you get to around 45-50, my arc The Fall of Rapture (I.D: 299507) might be suitable
Also, my other two arcs (see sig) might be good. Same level range as The Fall of Rapture.

Looks like you're approaching the right level range for "All Consuming".

Thanks for the review and the feedback in game. As for it still being a Work In Progress with 70 plays, you should have seen it at the start. The 3rd and 4th missions were completely different, the Minions spoke fluent English (I missed that they didn't speak it, and no one pointed it out until there were like 30 or 40 plays. ), and out of the 70 plays, I have received 30 comments, including yours. A dozen of them were of the "Great arc!" variety, which are nice to receive but not very useful for correcting mistakes.

The typos and mistakes you pointed out were the most anyone as sent me in game. And they led me to a sentence in a mission complete text that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I either switched from active to passive in the middle of the sentence, or vice versa. I can't really tell from what was written.

When I found out that the Minions don't speak English, I had the problem of getting their expostion into the missions some other way. I went off canon by having one of the leaders learning a small amount to fulfill his mission. I did have Talshak mention that in the mission return text, I will go over it again to see if I can make that clearer.

I had hit a wall the last time I went over it to make it more friendly to non-trilogy players. I think I have been away from it long enough to see it with fresher eyes, so I will give that another try.

Thanks again for the review. I look forward to seeing your take on the final arc.

If you want to try something short (only two missions) and amusing (I hope), then give this 20s range arc a try when you're in the level range. It's a fabulous tale of high fashion!

Tailor Made
ARC ID: 258291
Levels 20-29

It's good to have you back working on this project (it's actually nice having at least one other person doing what I've been working on for months now - I've been looking forward to reading your experiences).

I just wanted to say thanks for the feedback on the arcs that you played! I haven't decided which changes (if any) I intend to make, but I can tell you that at some point in the future I am planning to do an 'audit' on all of my arcs and make some edits/changes based on feedback that's been collecting, so I do appreciate it.

I do have another low level arc "in design" but I honestly don't know if it'll be ready before you reach level 20, and all of my other arcs you've either played already, or are so high in level that it'll be a long time before you get to them... I do hope you get some good on level recommendations soon, though!

If you're looking for lowbie-friendly arcs, Granny Granite and the Senior Moment Gang (#139671) would fit the bill. It's my first arc, designed before we could assign level ranges, but I designed it to be lowbie/solo-friendly.