Dr. Aeon's Challenge: A Player's Perspective

Tonight, I follow a fan-turned sidekick-turned something else in

Operation: Charybdis #346845 by @PopTartsNinja

My contact is one of the Superpowered Field Trainers from Atlas Park, Shana Leroi. She is a precog, and uses her powers to help find many young people just coming into their powers and helping them along a path to superheroism. Her current charge is one Rad Eagle. He has radiation powers, and is my biggest fan. He's out on a mission fighting some Arachnos and might be in a little over his head so Leroi asks me to go in and check things out. While there I find not only Arachnos, but a mix of Vanguard and Rikti as well. <Strange Bedfellows> indeed.

Rad Eagle's enthusiasm leads him to join Vanguard to try and sniff out the faction that might be working with Rogue Arachnos and Rikti, and actually manages to find something. But once again, he hasn't been heard from for a while and it's my task to check up on him. While I'm there, it seems these Vanguard are also doing what looks like mind control experiments on Rikti monkeys, as well as something called a Mechanape.

Rad Eagle once again gets himself in trouble by being kidnapped by Colonel Campbell and his (her? I forget) group of Rogue Fortunatas. Using the Arachnos's own seers, they are able to block Leroi's own psychic abilities and she can't see how things are going to turn out. Once there, I find a Rikti Restructurist (or possibly a new faction, once again my memory and notes fail me) named Scylla, and all of the enemies here have a goal of prolonging the war between Rikti and Vanguard indefinitely in order to keep both sides prepared for the Coming Storm. (I liked this tie in to canon) When I find Rad Eagle, he is surrounded by Fortunatas who seem to be training him meditation techniques. And when I rescue him, he runs off.

Evil for the Greater Good: When I return to Leroi, I find out that Rad Eagle didn't return to her. And what she found out was horrifying. They implanted Rad Eagle with something that enhances his nuclear metabolism and turns him into a living nuclear bomb. Something that will cause destruction along the lines of Boomtown, Siren's Call, or even Faultline. And the only way it can be stopped in time is by killing him, stopping his heart and his metabolism, ending the process before it fully starts. She suspects he has gone to one of his favorite places near Atlas Park, which would make things even more disastrous if he does explode. As I find him, he has taken the moniker Charybdis and made peace with the short time he has left. He attacks because he knows that is the only way I would fight him back. He has deactivated his medical transporter, and is ready to die to save the world (which does remind me of the first season of Heroes, complete with Mission 3's title "Save the Sidekick", though thankfully it's not followed up by the tired "Save the World"). This is the harshest and most personal use of "evil" in all of the Aeon arcs I've played so far. It develops the character starting from mission 1 and makes you feel for him by the end. Excellent job.

The Arc as an Arc: This arc, as most of the arcs, holds up very well outside of the contest restraints. My only problem was the difficulty of the Arachnos and Vanguard at my level, though there is a warning in the description about the difficulty. None of the bosses were overly difficult, and there was some great bits of humor throughout the arc, especially the patrols.

I enjoyed this one a lot, and I'm sorry I skipped over it earlier.

Been delayed by running the arcs from the Player's choice contest, but wanted to bring this back to the front page and mention that I will take some requests for reviews on the second challenge. Though I won't guarantee playing it before the deadline.

This will be my submission:

Bad Voodoo
Alignment: Heroic
Creator: @Beyond Reach
Level: 5-10
Synopsis: Mr. Bocor is one of the first victims of a group of masked vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, stopping illegal operations and pacifying villains' powers with surprising efficiency. He wants you to strike back at them and reverse whatever they've done to his Voodoun powers.
Enemy Groups: Custom Group, Wyvern, Legacy Chain.
WARNING: Archvillains, Elite Bosses!

Quick review time!

Clan Destiny ID# 349053

I ran this with the MA superteam earlier today, so I lost a lot more details due to the speed that we end up running them. We have time to read the briefings and they copy the return texts, but it still moves pretty briskly.

Our contact is a member of an elusive group of seers and precognatives called Clan Destiny. They see a future where the Rikti completely overtake our planet. And instead of trying to fight against this future, they resign themselves to it and are working with the Rikti, getting a portion of the US to themselves in return. Of course, you don't find this out until mission 4 I believe.

Evil for the greater good: Before this, we go on a few fetch quests for some components that the DE are stealing to create a bomb, which we steal ultimately for Clan Destiny to use as insurance against the Rikti. Unfortunately, this act of evil is immediately superseded by the fact that we then go after Clan Destiny themselves in retaliation. I forget how it ultimately plays out, as the arc we played are running together a bit now, though I do believe that the contact does get away at the end.

Started Purification a couple days ago and finished tonight. Retweeting my as-I-go thoughts while playing, mostly my attempts at funny comments about what's in the arc, will write a formal review within the next few days. Posted in reverse order since I just copy/pasted.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Wow. Absolutely read the mission complete clue before clicking the contact. Really hits it home.
about 1 hour ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: I went with the needs of the many, but still have to find the sluice computer.
about 1 hour ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: heh, she said "fellows"
about 1 hour ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Decision is spelled out in hostage bio. She dies (failure) and tells what the cure does. You give her to Crey, and serve the cure
about 1 hour ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Dilemma - pour cure into water supply - save 90k, kill 1k? Or refuse to act, leaving 90k to die?
about 1 hour ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: breakdown- Crey Rikti-flu (Z3N4) kills 1%, DE Z3N4 kills 99% but 1% immune, Crey Z3N4 cure saves 99% but kills the immune 1%
about 1 hour ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Jimmy was a preacher, and the leader of the riot.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Apparently, while I'm tweeting, Longbow are "treating" the sick prisoners with the antidote: their rifles.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: reminder - if you use the Zig map in your arc, inform people of the sewer grates in the back. Theres someone that's never seen it
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Halt! In the name of love! I mean Longbow!
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Objective - Defeat Jimmy. Jimmy Olsen? Jimmy Smitts? Jimmy Johns? Slim Jimmy?
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: so I'm testing the cure on the rioting prisoners. Wonder how "sick" they'll look?
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: What? Riot in the Zig? You must be joking! When does that ever happen? ... oh wait, nevermind.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA *cue exciting music*
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Me- so what's the good news? DS- the antigen works and we have enough to treat everyone in the area, but we must act quickly!
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Doc Sheridan- I've got good news and bad news. Me-Gimme the bad news first doc. DS- The virus is lethal and spreading quickly.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Crey and DE are both attacking the lab! Must defeat Sanchez and the Herald, their respective leaders.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA wall of ambush/patrol text!
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Ooh, non-combat doctors are roaming around, though the popup warns of possible DE activity.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: And now I take our antigen research to Dr. Sheridan. Who wants to guess that he's being attacked by DE?
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: So - Crey got the Rikti Flu, turned it into Rikti killer flu and mini-human killer flu, DE got that flu and we may have killerflu
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Apparently, Crey were engineering a virus to use on the Rikti, and ended up making one that worked on a small percent of humans.
about 2 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: He also told me that the hostages released, and the containment team captured might have infected... lots of people.
about 3 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Hmm... found Dr. Blithe, he gave me a code: 273174, sounds like an arc ID.
about 3 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Apparently I have to have the password that was given to me last mission "dawn on me" instead of merely typing it in right away.
about 3 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA resuming where I left off - Purification by Coulomb2
about 3 hours ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Time to check out the Crey's Folly lead in Dr. Steven's clue. Apparently it's a Crey base no one but Crey knows about at the moment.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: the injured hostage and their nurses are now in Quarantine and the two other hostages probably should be as well.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: found an encrypted disk on Dr. Stevens (Crey Boss) signed by Countess Crey herself, talking about some N4 and a DE attack.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: fought the boss (Crey in a hazmat suit), destroyed 2 containers, now to find the elusive 3rd container.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Nice, three hostages. Ground level I led out, Second level went out on their own, and third hostage was in a body bag, badly wounded.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Defeated the Harbinger (not, of sorrow) who spouted lots of doom and gloom about the coming Purification.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Map is the green fog map, and first mob had Blackroses disguised as trees and untargettable. I didn't know they did that.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: recovering some mutagens from mobilized DE, and I only have 1 1/2 hours, which I wasn't warned until accepting the mission.
2 days ago from web

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Purification # 352381 by @ Flame Kitten, aka Coulomb2 on the boards. From Aeon's Challenge # 1 and recent Dev Choice.
2 days ago from web

Today's review is an unofficial runner up from the first Aeon's Challenge. I say this because even though it didn't win, it did snag itself a Dev Choice a few weeks later. This is the first review I'm writing after writing a twitter review. Well, I guess it's more like the notes I write anyway, along with funny comments (glad you liked the Longbow one). Anyway, partly because of the dev choice, and his Pro Payne project running all of my arcs, and the fact that he requested a review, I ran Coulomb2's

Purification # 352381 by @ Flame Kitten

My contact today is a scientist who sends me off to investigate a Devouring Earth attack. There's also a note that this ties into an official arc which I either haven't played, or don't remember. Didn't hamper my enjoyment in the least though. The map is the green fog map and the popup says the DE have already released a toxin into the air. I rescue three hostages, the last one I find in a body bag, though she's only injured, not entirely dead. I also run into a group of Crey all wearing hazmat suits and talking about containment. I compromise the leader's suit and he completely freaks out and warns about an outbreak. Afterward, I find something signed by Countess Crey about an N4 virus.

Long story short, I find out that the Crey have been bioengineering basically a Rikti flu virus into something more deadly to the Rikti. Unfortunately, they found out that it has also become deadly to about 1% of the human population as well, ones with the blahblah protein. I find this out by first going to a secret Crey facility to find the research on this Rikti flu and to hopefully find an antigen. I do, but I'm not sure if it works so I take it to a very well respected scientist (in a mission with well done non-combat elements in the beginning - which I love) to find out it it will work on the version that the DE released (and are calling "Purification"). He tells me that it should work, so my next mission is to test it out on the sick and rioting prisoners in the Zig which have been infected by the captured Crey from the first mission. Unfortunately, the ones that seemed to have no symptoms to begin with got very sick and died. They realize that the 1% of humans with the blahblah protein who were susceptible to the Crey rikti flu are the ones immune to the DE rikti flu. And on top of that, they are deathly allergic to the Crey rikti flu cure.

Evil for the greater good: So the final mission comes the choice, the lesser of two evils. We can release the cure into the water supply to cure everyone that is infected by the DE rikti flu, but kill everyone who would naturally survive. Or I can let the hostage (a hero mentioned in mission 3) be defeated and ported to the hospital where she will tell everyone what the cure really does. I chose the needs of the many and rescued her (into Crey hands) I still have to complete a few minor tasks to release the "cure" into the water supply, and feel the weight of millions of people who will die - which is put into perspective in a very well done mission complete clue, be sure to read it before talking to the contact the final time. It honestly hit me in the gut, and that speaks volumes for a mission to do that.

Congratulations on the Dev's Choice, this is a fantastic arc.

Thanks, Bubbawheat, for the review! I'm very happy you enjoyed the arc - and loved the running commentary from your tweets (I'm finding that approach very helpful for tracking down technical flaws in arcs that need fixing). Granted, with a dev's choice it becomes much harder to 'fix' issues with the arc (in all honesty, I'm not sure I'd give 'prior warning' for the timer on mission one, given that it is the only one I can make an excuse for why the warning isn't vital - but I think you're spot on about mentioning the sewer grate in mission 4, if and when I get the chance).

What I've found interesting is the fact that it ended up to be necessary to add that final clue you mentioned ... I was actually a little worried it would come off as a little too ham-fisted (and, based on in-game comments, some players have definately despised being reminded of what killing 1% of Earth's population would really mean), but a previous review made it clear that it was possible someone playing the arc might not "get" what that 1% really means. I'm very gratified that that addition is having the intended effect: it's far preferable to comments along the lines of "I don't see why what my character just did is really all that bad."

Thanks again!

Today I finally come to the last of my requested reviews for the first Aeon's Challenge and review number 15 of the 24 still-published known entries. I don't think I will fully review all of the rest of the entries, but I probably will still go over a few of them, if quickly. But today is for Recluse's Phantom's:

One Too Many Lines Crossed ID# 347205 by @Ari

This arc starts out a little confusing, with your contact an Arachnos Arbiter. There is a little blurb about you being in deep cover and the Arbiter asks you to clear out a riot going on in St. Martial. After accepting your mission, you get radioed by your real contact - Longbow, through a mission begin clue, asking you to go along to find out more information. My first task, in a nice less-used outdoor slums map, is to clear out <The Uprising> who seem to be renamed <Crazed> as they are regular citezen models attacking me, with two Psychic bosses to defeat which leads my character and Longbow to surmise that they are being mind-controlled.

Next mission is going deeper undercover, with both the Arbiter contact and Longbow driving the "Evil" part of the challenge in a little bit too hard it seems. I'm going in to capture one of <The Uprising>'s leaders and "question" any civilians who might know anything. Also, there's likely to be Longbow there which I have to "kill" according to my Longbow contact, in order to keep my cover going.

The third mission is one that I have some big problems with, though I do think it's a fairly unique method to is. The story is that I am "interrogating" the hostage to get more information out of him. The Arbiter assures me that their medics will step in so they can continue their questioning later, but warns me that I need to more or less "make it look real" or there will be problems. Also, their Fortunatas will be suppressing his Psychic powers. So I walk into the small casino map and proceed to beat down a single, powerless hostage as he gives up some information. This mission, while interesting in concept, just made me feel dirty. And this is driven home even more in the followup text mentioning that my character already knew when she was told that the medics couldn't save him, and probably didn't even try.

My next mission is the one I really liked the best. My Arbiter contact has me meeting up with two other Arbiters for back up to take out the leader of <The Uprising> that we found out about through our "interrogation". He's called the Kommissar, and my Longbow contact tells me that I need to make sure he gets out alive. This double cross mission - which worked perfectly with the allies betraying at the right moment - is a great part of the storyline, and the best part of this arc for me. The final mission is a fairly standard wrap up, getting The Kommissar as an ally and taking out my contact, with Longbow helping out and burning the place down to destroy the evidence before finally sneaking out of the Rogue Isles for good.

Evil For the Greater Good: This arc has the evil part down in spades. The whole arc would feel pretty much like a villainous arc if you never read your clues. Your character could just decide on their own that they want to double cross their contact for their own ends. And the hostage interrogation is pretty "brutal". The part that doesn't come across quite so well is the greater good. From what I remember, we saved The Kommissar to allow him to continue undermining Arachnos's control of the Rogue Isles... and that's it. Doesn't seem like it's worth it.

The Arc as an Arc: I think this could be reworked a little bit outside of the constraints of the challenge, to be a nice spy/double cross arc. Play up on that fourth mission and throw in more twists and turns and double crosses. I saw that the arc only had two rates before me, and I get the feeling that there have been more plays than that, but the players quit at mission 2 or 3 because they didn't want to continue an arc where they are attacking helpless enemies, regardless of the story reason, and were being nice by not rating it at all, instead of a spiteful 1 star. The arc has promise, and some good details, but I can't say I liked it as it stands now. You can read my as-I-go thoughts reposted from twitter below in reverse order.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: And now Longbow want me to kill my Arachnos contact, and Der Kommisar. Ouch.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Ooh, mission subtitle is a variation of one of my favorite quotes. Here is "Those with clean gloves have dirtier hands."

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Nice, Kommisar's a thugs MM but only calls posse - might also have dual pistols, but not sure.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Mechanics on double cross worked without a hitch. Very nice.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: heh, I found one operative, he found the other one.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: I guess I am turning around... on Arachnos! Rescuing the Kommisar and taking out my Arachnos "allies".
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: The Kommisar's in town. I guess I better not turn around.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: And the medics did nothing, so I just killed a helpless victim... waiting for the greater good here...

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: I must have missed where the interrogation was to confess to treason. And Arby mentions that blood is close enough for a sig.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: his third line is "Here's what I know..." but he doesn't actually say anything. I don't think I like this workaround.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: And yep, totally powerless. One mission attacking a single boss level foe without any attacks.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Lots of "brutally"s in popup and compass text. Yeah, I'd say a little heavy handed.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: I'm assured medics will take over when I'm done, and Fortunatas are suppressing his abilities. Wondering if he's powerless?
Bubbawheat back to #CoHMA M3: I'm interrogating the prisoner myself. Arbiter warns that it's gotta be real - either he knows, or author is heavy handed

Bubbawheat #CoHMA objective is "2 civilians to investigate" and "Erase all traces of the investigation" must be defeat all. Have to attack civilians.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: saw a <citizen> running around. Seemed to have a power aura but didn't attack me. Custom with no attack powers selected?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: map is Kalinda intro mission map.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: fighting more civilians to find out more info on <The Uprising> for Arby and LB, and LB points out I'll be *killing* Longbow.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Arbiter drives the villainous heroics nail in a little deeper, feels like the author is overselling it a little.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: clue informs me that the Uprising's psychic leaders among other things hints at mind control. Confirming earlier fears, from desc
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: I really like the map, it's one I rarely see. A nice outdoor slum area.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Uprising Strike leader has same bio as everyone else in the group. Was hoping for something a little more unique.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: <The Uprising> are fighting <RIP> and winning. I believe they are renamed <Crazed>.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: My task is to quell a riot in St. Martial. Arbiter gives rough details, and Longbow tries to hit the "wrong" nail home.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA so I'm going undercover in the Rogue Isles for Longbow and I get my real mission briefing as a mission start clue from Longbow.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA My contact is an Arachnos Arbiter? Wonder why a hero's going to work with one of them?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA One Too Many Lines Crossed # 347205 by @ Ari aka ReclusesPhantom, from the first Aeon Challenge.

I'm reposting this here to clear up the first post to be just an index.
My first arc is the first one posted as being completed:

A Clockwork Romance #344816 by @FredrikSvanburg

My contact is Mr. Yin and he's contacting me because his daughter Penelope is missing, along with her posse of clockwork. He's got no concrete leads so he sends me on

Wild Goose Chase #1: A buried supergroup base that's currently occupied by Arachnos. There's also some Clockwork in the back who tell me that Penelope have been taken by the Lost. When I return to Mr. Yin, he gives me a map drawn by either a four year old or the Clockwork that points to a warehouse where the Lost are supposed to have Penelope. So I'm now off onto

Wild Goose Chase #2: A warehouse that's supposed to be where the Lost are holding Penelope Yin, but instead the Clockwork are holding every other Penelope in Paragon City. There's also a little clockwork in the back holding a piece of paper who says "Freem!" before running off. It's a hostage note for what seems like all these women that I just rescued and they want Penelope Yin for the Clockwork King from the Lost for real this time or else the other women get it. This brings me to

The rock and the hard place: The final mission has a 10 minute timer where I have to rescue the real Penelope Yin from the real Lost and escort her to the entrance to spend the rest of her life with the Clockwork King... or let her remain with the Lost for their nefarious plot with her which I forget. Or you could rescue her and not lead her to the entrance, but there's no way to know how far along you actually went before timing out. The mission ends with a newspaper headline either mentioning the rescue of all the women and disappearance of Penelope, or the disappearance of all the women.

The arc as an arc: The story felt a little bit rushed, without a lot of details to the mission briefings and boss dialogs. I felt the best writing was the headlines for the final return text, though most people will only get to see one of them. Also the second mission felt like it really served no purpose other than a red herring. Seeing the hostages don't make you connect with them any more for the choice in the third mission. And it's a little pointless to rescue the women only to have them be captured again right afterward. It could be different women, but that also lessens the point of this mission.

The evil for the greater good: This arc decided to give the player a choice, even though both choices have an "evil" side to them. You either deliver Penelope to the Clockwork King to rescue all of the hostages (which you had previously just rescued), or leave Penelope *and* all the other women to their fate.

Regardless, good luck in the contest! Next up: A Penny for your thoughts (the first one that caught my eye on the forums).

Are folks posting their submissions in this thread that aren't in the original lists?

The Spider Without Fangs - #379248
Tags: Solo Friendly, Mystery
Length: Long
Morality: Villainous
Description: Arachnos gives you the simple task of liberating an artifact from the Legacy Chain. It's a good opportunity to show off your skills, but it'll be tough to impress the spiders. Nobody gets anywhere in Arachnos by making stupid mistakes. You'd probably end up dead!

There is no original list that I know of. I made this list, and Samuraiko made this list. I'm planning on playing through as many of the arcs as I can get to and posting reviews. If you'd like one from me, feel free to ask and I'll make sure I get to it sooner rather than later.

I'd like to hear what you think of

Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488

It's a ten-minute timed, 1-mission arc, and its thread is here.

Eco

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

'Eya,

I'd like a review on 'To Dream of Nothing' (#374644) if possible. Thread is here; don't read past the first post if you don't want spoilers though.


Thanks in advance,

-- Z.

I'm jumping the queue a little bit since I did know one thing about

Storming Citadel #379488 by @MrCaptainMan

was that it only took 10 minutes to play. Bringing out my freshfaced Dual Pistols/Dark corruptor Gemini Curse, newly level 5 and ready to play through these 2nd challenge arcs!

Now my contact is Positron, and although he's disappointed that I'm not Blue Steel, and who am I kidding, so am I. But he's frantic because Infinitismo has disabled Citadel and he will completely delete if we don't reboot him within 10 minutes!!! And the inky part is that I get to be miniaturized and injected inside Citadel's neck in order to save him. There's also various technobabble explanations about what exactly is going on, but tick tick tick, the timers running, off to click some glowies! The map is a typical Arachnos base if my memory serves me right, and actually it's 3 destructible objects, which are those weird looking techy things that have no real world equivilent. I think they're the 21st century version of the Jacob's Ladder in Frankenstein.

But I digress, the destructibles spawn a clicky, the clicky spawns a boss - Infinitesmo, and I complete with 0:07 seconds left on the timer, because I'm Bond cool. And flying around inside Citadel are some red Electrons (wisps) and purple puffballs (purple puffballs... ok, Lanaruu). And coming outside the popup instructs me to wait for it... wait for it... *Kaboom*!!! And Positron - the contact - plays a very explosive animation. It may be a bug, but it is a pretty awesome bug.

The Hero Loses His Power: In this arc Citadel, one of the signature heroes, has lost his power and the player is sent in the mission - inside of him - to clear all the bugs out as it were. It's basically Fantastic Voyage with a City of Heroes twist. The mission doesn't feel as if you are going in to restore his powers, but more like you're going in to save his life. Which isn't a bad thing by any means, but didn't feel like it fit closely enough to the contest either.

The Arc as an Arc: But regardless of the contest, this was really fun to play. I felt like the timer for the mission is a good time, It was pitch perfect for my character, and my heart was racing towards the end worrying if I would be able to finish on time or not. My only complaints were the technobabble was a little too babbly, and the sendoff text was a little too long, I felt like I really needed to skip it and move on with the mission. As before, my running tweets are below in reverse order. Only two were made while the timer was going, and both during loading screens.

Appropriate for the Level Range?: Yes, nothing was too difficult, I died only once due to my own mistakes and didn't have any real trouble completing within the time limit.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Storming Citadel # 379488 by @ MrCaptainMan, an entry in the 2nd Aeon Challenge.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: a lot of mumbo jumbo technobabble, and I guess Positron wanted Blue Steel instead of me. Oh well.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: It's a Fantastic Journey - I'm being miniaturized and injected into Citadel's neck - and I've only got 10 minutes to finish!!
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: sendoff text could be a little shorter - tick tick tick...
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: killed by a purple puffball Oh noes! tick tick tick
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: tick tick tick... I must be James Bond - I defeated Infinitesmo with 0:07 seconds left on the timer.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: tick tick tick... *BOOM* Positron the contact plays an awesome explosion animation... how? I have no idea.

That animation is the old one that played when Penelope Yin destroyed the PsychoChronoMetron.

I'm not sure when she stopped playing it, or why Positron's got it now instead of being a good kitty.

Thanks for playing my arc, Bubba, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! The Posi animation bug at the end works perfectly if the player doesn't die before the end, lol, as it's supposed to represent Infinitesimo's nanobomb merely being good for a little lightshow when extracted into the macroverse. This is one bug I hope they don't get around to fixing too soon lol!

Eco.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

Well, I found my first challenge arc (both for Aeon's Challenge, and as it uses the keyword "Challenging") that I had to quit, and that honor goes to:

Bad VooDoo #373659 by @BeyondReach

I'll just give it a mini-review + tweets at the end, in reverse order as usual.

A Villain Loses his Powers: In this arc, Mr. Bocor gets "hit with something" and loses his voodoo powers, and it's my job to follow his leads to get it back for him, all the while following a secret conspiracy/alliance/feud type thing all between the Legacy Chain, Wyvern, and Solomon's Hand (custom group).

Appropriate for the Level Range?: I had tons of difficulty with this arc running on the default difficulty solo @ lvl 5-6. From the Legacy Chain boss with fire imps, to the earth control lieutenants, and finally the plant control boss that I finally gave up on. Lots of purples could have gotten me past it, but I was done by that point, and I've only got 8 inspiration slots. I've spent 3 days (albeit with brief playtimes) and many deaths. Time will tell if this is due to a bad character choice, and if this is the case, I will revisit this arc. But as it stands now, it's way too challenging for this low level.

The Arc as an Arc: The actual plot of the story was fairly intriguing, if a little hard to follow - which I'll accept some of the blame for that one, breaking it up between several play sessions. I wasn't sure how much I liked Bocor as a character, and I don't think he seemed much like his canon self. He had an interesting style to him, but at the end, I wasn't sure how I ultimately felt about it. The missions had a lot of interesting stuff in them as well. It's basically the difficulty that killed it for me. It is marked as "challenging", but this is a 5-10 level range arc. Now that the challenge is over, that level range could be bumped up to something higher to help compensate. The arc wasn't all bad, but frustration got the better of me this time, which you can really see in the tweets below. Better luck next time.

#CoHMA Bad Voodoo # 373659 by @ BeyondReach, entry in the 2nd Aeon's Challenge.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Mr. Bocor has lost his voodoo power and needs me to get it back. Threatens me upon suspicion of treachery, not sure if I like it.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Legacy Chain is here taking something from the Family I was supposed to meet.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: I'm wondering if this is like about half of the arcs I play- This Johnny Ventrivi I'm looking for isn't going to be here, or dead
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Adamants of Steel look awfully villainous, are we sure they're heroic?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: He's alive! Just held hostage by the Chain... cha cha chain.... chain of fools.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: heh, he said "ruckus".

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: I kind of like Mr. Bocor's tone, though it doesn't seem to fit him. And now I'm off to check out some Wyvern.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Ouch, these customs are pretty tough at level 5 for a corruptor.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA And completely decimated by HMV's soldiers, let's go for round 2.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA round 3's the charm? At least one less minion this time...
Bubbawheat #CoHMA Oh come on! 2 lucks got him down to a sliver of life though.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA He wasn't even the faction leader? Grr...
Bubbawheat #CoHMA I found Lieutenant Rose (a guy, and not a Golden Girl as I first suspected), and he's not the leader either.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA and dead again...
Bubbawheat #CoHMA I'm confused, which leader of which faction am I supposed to be interrogating again?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA grrr... bodering on /ragequit
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: So <Hand of Solomon> is missing Solomon, and wanting to partner with Wyvern?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2 return: Contact says "Speak with me tomorrow around the same time" Sounds good. See you tomorrow!

Bubbawheat #CoHMA continuing M3: Interrupting another meeting - between Solomon's Hand and Legacy Chain - and getting an Ether Mirror for Bocor.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Solomon's Hand's Earth Mother is having fun perma-immob'ing me, and I'm Held half the time on top of it.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Found a Liefieldian boss... with Fire Imps?! Really?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Bah, my indignation got deflated. I rechecked my eyes and realized it was a standard Legacy Chain boss I was fighting. Poo.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Boss turned out to have the ring controlling the mirror I was looking for, now to find the other boss.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3 (whoops labelled the last couple wrong): A custom Storm EB->Boss, I don't have high hopes for this one.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Surprisingly the custom EB->Boss was easier than the Legacy Chain Boss->Lieut. But more annoying slowing my two attacks to nothin
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Retrieved the artifacts, but they weren't the right ones, or Bocor can't use them, so must find the one who can...tomorrow.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA: M4: sendoff text feels like a big run on sentence, like he's telling me everything in one breath.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Off to kidnap Jason - the one that can work the Voodoo mojo back into Bocor, and blow up the base - for good measure.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Kicked to the curb by two Fang Agents, I hope it's not just that I picked a bad character to use... >.>
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Lots of patrols wondering around, one will probably end up getting me while I tweet.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Earth Progenitor Seraph - boss level... I have a baaad feeling about this.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: I was right. Immediately held, taken down for over half my health, then the other half before I could take out her other minion.
Bubbawheat Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: That's it, I've had enough. When I can't get more than two attacks off, it's time to quit.

I'd just like to basically make a post held for future editing, as I got some really bad news today which basically tells me my time has been grabbed by the proverbial balls for, well, a while, so it may take me some time to respond to your criticisms. Regardless, I'll try and make some time to reply by the end of this weekend.

EDIT: I've made the decision to change the arc's level range to 10-14. After all, it isn't supposed to replace Mr. Bocor's arcs but sit alongside them, and with this in the 5-9 range if it went along with it you wouldn't be able to play his other arc all the way through; and I HATE when I outlevel a contact mid-arc.

When trying to emulate Mr. Bocor, I'm not the person who wrote the original contact's arcs, so I could only hope to imitate him to the best of my ability. From playing through his arcs and reading his dialog carefully, I noticed a preference for polysyllabic words and a particularly callous and merciless nature. I don't think I emulated his dialog style exactly, but as an amateur writer I wanted to implant some of my own style onto him. I think that made him less serious than he is in the Dev arcs, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

You seem to have had a much worse time than a number of other players, who played it before I made my most recent downgrade on the power of the custom enemies. I think that the character you chose must have been a rather significant factor. I think you may be right with your uncertainty in regards to which “faction leader”, so I'll change it to “Interrogate the Mystery Faction Leader”. I'm very pleased with your conflict with the Mystic Paragon, her being an easy fight despite her status as an EB is exactly what I was going for, if you read her description you may understand. I'll investigate the Earth Progenitor's powers again, though I think that lack of preparation may have been your downfall; after all, I listed it a challenge so the player would think twice about what character he or she's taking in- there. So far I've run the arc in it's various incarnations of ever decreasing difficulty as a Level 32 Grav/Psi Dominator (immensely easy), Level 5 Thugs/Pain Mastermind (no deaths, reasonably easy) and Level 7 BS/WP Scrapper (I stopped playing with him during Mission 2 after I discovered that there were two HMVs in it, despite that, two deaths, very difficult). I had intended to run it with my Level 7 DP/Pain Corruptor soon, but now I'm going to raise the range to 10-14 I think I won't. Oh, and it's Jacob, not Jason :P

Today I take a trip to City of Heroes in Technicolor! For ArrowRose's arc:

Suppression #374481 by @GypsyRose

My contact today is a young girl with no superpowers of her own named Dorothy. She's from Kansas and she tells me that heroes across Paragon City are losing their powers and then disappearing! And one of the most recent victims is her friend Cerebella. She used to be a near genius hero, and now she's claiming that she has no brain. I think you can see where this is going. It's a fun arc full of Wizard of Oz references, almost all from the classic movie with Judy Garland, the three heroes that you go after, each with their own mission, even hand you a note with a stanza from each of their respective songs. You follow the yellow brick road to find the Master Marvel who reluctantly helps and tells you where the Wicked One is and her Wicked Brew that was suppressing the heroes's powers. It's a simple enough story, but there's a lot of fun and variety in the mobs that you fight.

The Supers Lose Their Powers: In this arc, the problem of supers losing their powers is rampant, but you only really focus on three: Cerebella (Scarecrow), Valentina (Tin Man), and Captain Courageous (Lion). Master Marvel (The Wizard) tells you that they've had their powers all along, but just lost their confidence. The last mission has you finding tokens of their confidence, defeating the Wicked One (The Wicked Witch of the West), and destroying her brew that caused this whole mess. I don't remember if there was one, but it would have been nice to have a little more mention at the end about the rest of the heroes. Also, I don't think it's ever really explained what happened to all the other heroes that disappeared. Did they die? Were they kidnapped and then released at the end? We end up just being worried about the three allies. Which would be perfectly fine if they were the ones being focused on, and all the "other heroes" aspect was dropped altogether.

Appropriate for the Level Range?: When I played this arc, it has been bumped slightly up to 5-15 fyi. I was worried after the last arc about the character I chose to play through these arcs, but this arc eased my worries completely. I had almost no difficulties at all in this arc. The CoT Soul Mages gave me a little bit of difficulty with their suicidal explosions, and just plain bad luck at getting multiple spawns close together, but nothing frustrating or anything that took more than one trip to the hospital.

The Arc as an Arc: Along with Alice in Wonderland, I also really love the Wizard of Oz and really enjoyed all the references. The first three missions are nearly identical in structure though - finding the hero hostage and finding a clue, with the occasional optional bit of interest thrown in. It could use a little more diversity in that department. The mobs however, were diverse in a great way. Lots of lesser used but not overly challenging (besides CoT, but they're forgivable) groups, as well as a custom standard group <The Brood> which used a large mix of unusual enemies, and a green Wolf Spider, I even got to the final mission still seeing new mobs in that group that I hadn't seen yet.

Edit: As usual, tweets below, mostly just humorous comments about The Wizard of Oz.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA Suppression # 374481 by @ Gypsy Rose aka ArrowRose, entry in 2nd Aeon's Challenge
Bubbawheat #CoHMA Hello Dorothy, I thought it was Alice that just came out in theaters.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Heroes have been losing their powers and then disappearing. One of them - Cerebella just disappeared recently, and I'll find her?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Popup says I'm not in Kansas anymore, but Croatoa actually looks quite a bit like Kansas...
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: A minikin that looks a teensy bit like Alice. I knew it! Wait, I mean, WTH?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Cerebella is a near genius. So, I guess she was just kinda smart. And now she thinks she has no brain. Oh Scarecrow...
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: She said it! i was wondering about that. PS - I'm liking it, difficulty so far absolutely not a factor.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M1: Not only that, but her clue quotes from the song... uh oh, I smell copyright infringment.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: If this man's an empty kettle with a name like Valentina, I think I'd be a little scared. I think it will be a different stanza.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Hmm... there's a hole in the ground. Why do they always pick this exact spot to dig a hole?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Kinda disappointed that <The Brood> don't all have unique bios, but it seems a very large mix of standard mobs.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: No "man's an empty kettle" in her clue, she's just friends with the "boy who shoots the arrows"
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Just have to "search for information" now.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M2: Found a warning note from Cerebella written before her incident. Though it doesn't make sense who she's writing it to back then.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Captains Courageous, I mean Captain Courageous has lost his courage in a cargo ship. Put 'em up, Put 'em up!
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: While I love the parallels, by mission 3 I'm ready to shake up the repetitive nature of these missions.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Have forgotten to mention the mobs. First Tuatha, then Winter Horde, now Spectral Pirates. Enjoy the mix, but how to tie together
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M3: Found a pamphlet for Master Marvel... did I mention Copyrig- just kidding. I smell Wizard.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: I'm off to see the Wizard!
Bubbawheat #CoHMA Lots of random glowies lying around.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA They all seem to have minor references and jokes in them. *cough* *ripoff* *cough*
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M4: Died a couple times, but both from kamikaze Life Mages.

Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Master Marvel told us where to find the Wicked One, and the talismans to restore the heroes's confidence and power.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Bringing my Ice Ammo, frozen water works, right?
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: Wicked One is a classic rendition of the Wicked Witch, full on Magic booster witch outfit.
Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: And again, difficulty came into play - Boss -> Lieut with grav was much easier than earlier control customs.
Bubbawheat Bubbawheat #CoHMA M5: And I'll miss you most of all Cerebella.

Hey! If I keep this pace up, I might actually finish before the third Aeon's Challenge! And by the way, after 3 arcs (more like 2 with the super short one, and one unfinished) I'm at level 7. My plan for the rest after I pass up level 10 is to not take any more powers, and not slot any enhancements to help stay true to the level 10 cap (other than turning off XP).

Thanks so my for taking the time to play and review my arc.

You are right. I got so focused on OZ I forgot to mention what happened to the other heroes. I will look at putting something after the last mission or in the souvenir.

I love the tweets! They brought me my second message board induced smile today.

Thanks again.

This may seem like it's just a review thread, but I'd like to see a little discussion in here too:

How many Challenge arcs did you play? Which ones were your personal favorites? Did you prefer one challenge over the other? Is there any from the first challenge that I missed and should check out?