City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Trying to get all the custom group limitations straight

Eva Destruction

By Eva Destruction,
Posted on: 2009-11-25 03:26 in Mission Architect

 

Posted

I am working on a story arc using custom mobs, but I have been away from COH for awhile and trying to get all the new custom group restrictions straight in my head. So, I just wanna run my own understanding by someone.

I want to make a custom group-based story arc, but I do not want people to avoid it because it gives low or zero XP. So, to ensure my custom groups give regular XP (100%, full XP with no reductions) I believe I need the following things:

1. At least 1 Minion, Lieutenant, and Boss in the custom group.

2. All powersets at Hard or Extreme.

Is there anything I am missing, especially regarding customized power selections? I have a custom group I made with customized power choices, and when playtesting they gave zero XP. Trying to avoid that. Also, do escort/assisting NPCs negate XP gains entirely or just reduce it, and is there a way to have a non-person status NPC tag along without affecting the XP? (I want to use an NPC character who acts as the story's narrator but I think the idea of having him tag along without doing any fighting would look strange. I am planning to give him a Minion status with just a single low-level power choice from each set).

Thanks for reading the text wall.

 

Posted

I wrote a guide that explains all of this stuff. If you take away even one power that is given to a Standard difficulty custom mob, that mob will give no reward at all.


<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Strawberrycocoa View Post
1. At least 1 Minion, Lieutenant, and Boss in the custom group.
Yes.

Quote:
2. All powersets at Hard or Extreme.
Yes. Keep in mind however, that many powersets include a lot of problematic powers on Hard or Extreme, such as Build Up and Power Sink. Your group will probably give more xp/min if you set some of those to Standard and have them give out 75% xp rather than full xp with the player needing to rest after every other fight.

Quote:
Is there anything I am missing, especially regarding customized power selections? I have a custom group I made with customized power choices, and when playtesting they gave zero XP. Trying to avoid that.
Custom critters must have at least the Standard powers in both their primary and secondary in order to give rewards. You can use the "custom" setting to add powers and still have the critter give rewards, but you can't take any away, even if you replace them with a stronger power.
Quote:
Also, do escort/assisting NPCs negate XP gains entirely or just reduce it, and is there a way to have a non-person status NPC tag along without affecting the XP? (I want to use an NPC character who acts as the story's narrator but I think the idea of having him tag along without doing any fighting would look strange. I am planning to give him a Minion status with just a single low-level power choice from each set).
They reduce xp based on the amount of damage they do. A minion will be squished easily, which would be rather immersion-breaking if he's supposed to be the narrator. A Lieutenant with a defensive secondary will be more survivable, or better still, a boss with a control primary and a defensive secondary will survive pretty well but not kill-steal too much.

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

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eva Destruction View Post
They reduce xp based on the amount of damage they do. A minion will be squished easily, which would be rather immersion-breaking if he's supposed to be the narrator. A Lieutenant with a defensive secondary will be more survivable, or better still, a boss with a control primary and a defensive secondary will survive pretty well but not kill-steal too much.
So, a tag-along NPC can have any power selections I want without reducing XP directly, but the more damage they do to a mob the less XP that particular mob gives?

 

Posted

Thanks this explained some stuff I been trying to get right too, lol.