Arc ID 365497 - Simplicity (Working Title) - Feedback Request

Hello all!

I have just this moment published a 5 mission arc, entitled Simplicity.
It's a working title because, well, I was unsure what to call it. Simplicity was more a guideline for myself when I was writing the arc.

It needs feedback from players. It is specifically designed for solo play in mind. The arc range is level 1 - 14 and is Neutral morality, for reasons that will become apparent upon play.

I have tagged it as 'Easy' and 'Solo Friendly'. There are no EBs/AVs.

The final mission contains a Warrior Boss who belongs to the 20-29 range (they're not available from the 5-15 Warrior group for some reason) but there is an ally in the mission.

Due to the constraints of the MA in dealing with chained objectives (specifically clickies) the final mission contains clickies which become clickable after another objective has been completed. I'm not entirely happy with the way this works so would welcome any alternative workarounds or methods of achieving the same end.

Please do not hold back on the spelling, grammar, punctuation and presentation advice. I've scanned through the text a couple of times but I really need some fresh eyes to pick out the anomalies.

And finally, if this gets some good plays then I will write the 'second part'. There might even be a third part.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=204500 was the starting inspiration for this arc.

Hey AP, I haven't had a try of this arc yet, but about the Warriors boss part is there enough room just to add a custom Warriors boss?

Hmm, there is plenty of room as I have used Customs very sparingly.

I have tried the boss myself and he's as difficult solo as any other Warrior boss - i.e. a large amount of lethal damage (he's a Slasher, as 'twere) with the right amount of resistance. He's still a Warrior with the usual attack pattern, so it's not like doing a whole arc with level 10 exemped Carnies or Malta.

Anyway, try the arc (!) and see what you think.

Overall this is a good arc, and the writing is strong. I'll list some nitpicks and then go into how the arc feels generally:

M2 debrief: concenrs -> concerns
M2: Would be better if each contraband gave different information.
M4 brief: likesthem -> likes them
M5: "Executing" Paris - I felt a bit funny on this. While bounty hunters may get the orders "wanted: dead or alive" it usually means kill if capturing alive is impossible otherwise, not an outright hit.
M5: the lines are mixed up between the PPD and the Warriors (the Warriors are telling the PPD to "stand down" while the cops are saying "we'll kill you all!)
M5: Midnight Desperado's bio is incomplete.
M5: The reasoning why you intend to bomb the cave should be placed before the actual deed, and should be triggered upon meeting Desperado and not Paris.
M5: Morality clue text is missing.

Some of the maps can feel a bit "empty" (especially mission 2), which can be improved upon by adding a few more enemy dialogue, the ambushes I think should especially have a line to announce their presence (realistically they should be sneaky obviously, though in practice it can get annoying).

The individual missions were too loosely connected I thought, maybe work in a bit more story about the Guild between missions. I think I get that what you're trying to achieve here is an alternate, "neutral" path for characters and so this arc is more in the line of "a day in the life of a bounty hunter", making it feel kind of like a serial show, though even on those they have an overarching plot that keeps the thing moving. Individually the arcs are very well done, and I especially liked the twist reveals at the end of mission 1 and the one with the Clockwork.

Cheers Tangler for taking the time to critique what I've done so far.

I will make the cosmetic (spelling and formatting) changes first and then work on the story a bit more.

I think I'm going to have to trim Depserado's bio down as I must have reached the word limit! The same for that likesthem bit. Grrr, me and my verbosity.

Cheers!

***

I have made the changes, I'm not entirely sure how best to string the missions together more coherently.

And I'm still stuck for title/description. Calling it 'Going Rogue' would be arrogant and misleading.

If anyone else would like to try out the updated arc then please do. Further feedback is always good.

Just an addendum to say that I've now updated the description but have decided to keep the story arc title of 'Simplicity'.

I'm going to stick with the loosely-connected storyline otherwise that's a whole bunch of rewrites. I'm not being lazy (!), I just think that if the arc proves successful then I can run another story that follows from it which will explain more about the Guild.

I feel that the first mission is too long, especially for a level 1-14 arc. Dropped to that level you have no access to Stamina and unless you find that elevator before exploring the other corridors, and get lucky on a guess that all the objectives are on the 2nd floor, you can spend a long time going through that map looking for everything.

I was getting pretty bored before the mission was completed and it didn't compel me to finish the arc. The first mission should hook the player into playing the entire arc, this one didn't do that for me at all.