Short and sweet, your best short arcs

Hi all,

I've been leveling up characters and grinding tickets on two characters as part of an initiative to bring more midlevel recipes into the market. My characters have alternatively been running story arcs and at times grinding away at the notorious Samurai farm.

I've had enough of green, red, blue Samurai to last me a lifetime (no more of those thank you), so I wanted to get your recommendation for good story arcs that are short. I typically jump on to play for an hour at a time and while sometimes I'll take in a five story arc, most of the time I can't/won't/rather play something shorter.

So give me some recommendations for story arcs 3 missions or less, and I'll be happy to play, rate and send you feedback.

My two characters are a level 33 DM/Regen Scrapper (level locked) and a level 23 Bots/Dark MM (will level lock at 33). Both are modestly IO'ed but mostly use SO slotting, so while I want something that's challenging, I don't want something that's only intended for a suped up, heavily IO'ed monstrosity.

FF

"The Christmas We Get" (#356477) is five acts, but two of those are very, very short.

Whack a Mole #2711 is a quick bit of fun, not too much in the way of tickets though. Currently Where's Moldo edition, though I plan on changing it up a little bit soon. 2 missions - 10 minutes total time.

*Points at Sig* #61013, 3 acts, can be a bit of a challenge but nothing too bad, no AVs/EBs

My other short arc is #1345, "Jumping in Feet First" but it's level 1-9, so it's just for beginners.

*points at sig* Illpracticed Malpractice was explicitly meant to be a sort of quickie radio-esque mission. Not sure how well it'll work for your needs since while your MM willprobably be able to hold aggro, the escort can actually die.

"The Bestest Radio Mission Ever" - one (fairly large) comedic mission.

#1526

Talos Vice (arc 338380)
An 80s instrumental blares as the camera pans over scenes of Talos Island: windsurfers on the water, the Talos statue, shoppers in Wentworth's, bikini babes, sports cars racing down the Argo Highway, a speedboat bouncing on the waves. A title card appears over the waters racing below: TALOS VICE
(heroic, 3 missions, level 12-20)

Celebrity Kidnapping (arc 1388)
Boy, does Willy Wheeler have a deal for you! A celebrity heiress has been sentenced to jail for drunk driving. The plan is to break her out of the Zig with the help of some thugs, then hold her for ransom for immense profit! What could go wrong?
(villainous, 3 missions, level 30-40)

Check out my sig (I'll bet you're getting used to hearing that by now).

Of the arcs listed there, Freakshow U (1 mission) and Cracking Skulls (3 missions) are pretty quick plays.

Ooh, lots of suggestions. I'll try them all out tonight and possibly tomorrow afternoon. Thank you all. And Wrong Number, I'll go look at that thread you suggested also. I didn't know there was a similar thread of this already.

I also did a review thread for short arcs if you're mostly looking for stuff to play. I found it here. I also came across Wrong Number's thread in the same search, she even called it short and sweet.

So far, I've gotten through the following arcs.

Arc #356477 by @Venture, The Christmas We Get
Comments: Wish I would've read the souvenir before sending in my feedback. I liked how that wrapped the plot a bit tighter.

Arc #2711 by @Bubbawheat, Whack A Mole
Comments: Probably shouldn't have gone in with +1/x2/Bosses Yes difficulty. Still managed 4000 points, though I failed the first mission. I did manage to still win a prize with the second so I felt a bit vindicated.

Arc #61013 by @Aliana Blue, Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai
Comments: I never would've expected Ed Wood to be resurrected and used in such a clever manner. Made him out to be quite the hero.

Arc #246459 by @Zamuel, Illpracticed Malpractice
Comments: I got paranoid by your comment that the escort could die so I cleared the map very carefully and then raced out the door with the hostage. I was expecting massive ambushes. Still a fun, short mission.

I'm right in the middle of Talos Vice by @PW (Police Woman) and will get to the other ones soon.

These were a lot of fun, and I 5-starred all of them.

Thanks for the play, and the top marks. Glad you liked it!

The "after rescue" spawn placement is wonky (sometimes you get a straight shot and other times it's "Eek villains!") but very glad you enjoyed it.

Had enough time tonight to finish these:

Arc ID#1526 by @Leese, The Best Radio Mission Ever
Comments: It plays like a radio mission though honestly I'm not a huge fan of hunt the glowie type missions only because sometimes they're hard to find and I play with the sound down really low. However, this was a fun mission. I did enjoy the other parts including arresting the customers.

Arc ID#338380 by @PW, Talos Vice
Comments: Loved the second mission. It's almost calls for a special costume for your character to look the part. Libby dancing away for college money was a nice and very funny surprise.

Arc ID#1388 by @PW, Celebrity Kidnapping
Comments: Urgh! I failed the last mission, but that's a good thing. The thing that I dislike about many missions in this game is that they're a foregone conclusion. I got distracted by Amanda Vines at the last part and didn't have the situational foresight to see where Paris was. Enjoyed it.

Next up, the arcs by @Wrong Number and @Coulomb2

What the heck, I'll toss in my very first arc TOO MANY BUNNYGIRLS! which is (all together now!) listed in my sig down there (@Clave Dark 5). It's comedy, plays fairly quickly and you don't have to fight any EBs or AVs. 3 maps.

You might also consider my other arcs, here's a brief guide based on your concerns:

My second arc, A.E.'s Premium Quality is also comedy+shortish but the customs in the final mish can be difficult for lower levels or certain builds, which might stretch play out - just FYI. 3 maps too. BTW, ignore the orange text about there being an EB or AV in this arc; this is a dev-confirmed bug - no such beastie exists in this mission.

My third, DayJob Hell is for villains 1-10 so that doesn't play exactly quickly, yet it's not a monster epic either. Probably not a great source of crazy-tickets though. 4 maps, one tiny.

My latest, Against The WickerWork Khan! is fairly short but best suited for higher levels or very low difficulty settings (I've soloed it with a 25th level stalker though). The higher level you are and the lower you set it, the faster you'll go. It has a few comedic touches as well, but is far from angsty or 'deep'. 3 maps.

I hope you enjoy any of these that you might choose to play.

Another short one for your consideration.

Attack of the 50 Foot Villain (arc 363366)
An accident with portal technology has caused your villain to grow to giant size! Suddenly, you have a strange urge to attack Tokyo.... [For best results, use a max height character or change one costume slot to have your height slider maximized.]
(villainous, 1 mission, level 41-54)

I've got a quickie, 1 mission story for ya. If you like anime (and the comedy AzuManga Daioh in particular) you should get a good kick out of this one.

Everything should be giving full xp, I've updated it a couple times since the last issue. It now has penguins!

Enter the Father Hat Gang
Arc #21391

I've got a couple for you. Rise of the Drakule (#51357) and it's sequel, Return of the Revenge of the Son of Drakule Part 2: First Blood (#51357) are both 3 missions or less and pretty focused on parody and absurd comedy and combat over any kind of really deep story, so they're good for some quick fun.

The second one may be a bit out of your characters' range, as the minimum had to be bumped up to prevent weird spawning with the custom group that's used in one of the missions, so enter at your own risk. The first one though has been beaten by characters all throughout it's 25-50 level range.

I got done with two of Wrong Number's arcs tonight:

Arc ID#2220 Trademark Infringement
Arc ID#84420 Death to Disco!

Comments: I enjoyed both, particularly well done were the custom mobs. The mobs in Trademark Infringement in particular were very well balanced and interesting enough that I stopped to check out the info on each of them.

I plan to play anything that's submitted in this thread, so if I haven't gotten to yours yet, don't worry. I will eventually.

Also, as you can tell, I'm far from the harshest critic. If I enjoyed it, I'll give it a 5 star rating. It's as simple as that. I've been playng these arcs for pure entertainment value and haven't been looking at them really critically. However, if you want a more lengthy critique apart from the one liners I've been giving out, let me know.

To Please a Ghost
Arc #: 299270

Villian/humor arc. No special bosses to deal with, good for all levels.
(Longbow, 5th Column, Circle of Thorns)

Nevermore
Arc #:352030

Hero arc, and the one I'd made for the last AE contest. Sadly, I was one of the ones that gave a choice at the end.

It's 4 missions long, but the last mission is a simple yes/no choice with a 5 minute timer. Lots of stuff to read in this one, including the keepsake.

I guess I can also suggest Rider's Ribs Restaurant Rescue since it fits the criteria *points at sig*

3 missions or less, playable by level 33. . . .

Might I recommend my "Polar Emergence Neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN)", arc 29205? It's 3 missions long and contains Crey and Winter Horde ranging from levels 30-54. It also contains one of the cutest, heart-meltingest (is that a word?) allies you'll ever get introduced to.

And, if you like PENGUIN, it has a sequel. See my signature for details on Waddle's Revenge (arc 302196, and it's 4 missions instead of 3, but it's fun, too).