Dr. Aeon's Second Architect Challenge - Bad Voodoo

Here is my proposed arc for entry to Dr. Aeon's Second Architect Challenge, but fortunately as I was able to finish it so early - much, much time spent during a slow weekend on Friday, Saturday and today - I decided to publish it for feedback first, before I enter the finished version.

When I was writing my last arc - which turns out is going to be my second arc I've published since I've come back seeing as I was still doing the final edits when the challenge came up and I decided it could wait - I was thinking: hey, look at The Television being all patriotic, I should really write a villainous arc. I was also thinking: hey, look at all these people complaining that there aren't enough hero groups.

And from those ideas, plus some helpful interference by the Second Challenge narrowing down my subject area, Bad Voodoo was born.

Bad Voodoo
Alignment: Villainous
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: Elite Bosses!

This arc was made in mind of Mr. Bocor's own canon arcs, and was thoroughly constructed with them in mind. Consequently you will obviously find a deal of Legacy Chain and magic artifacts, as is the norm in Senor Bocor's missions. Keep that in mind when playing it. The AE will tell you that it's Very Long, I would disagree. Although it is 5 Missions, those missions maps are: Medium, Medium, Large, Medium, Tiny. And by Tiny, I mean it's a Unique Map which is Tiny. Also one more note: I think you may enjoy it a lot more if you read the info on each of the custom enemies, it will allow you to get the idea of who they are better.

Please, be as ruthless as you choose, I'm not a perfectionist, I'm not looking for all fives, and I'm not looking for tickets, just constructive feedback. Please, I would especially like feedback on the Elite Bosses and Archvillain i.e. are they possible with downsizing solo, if not could an alternative be created where they are possible solo but still present a challenge for team play?

Thanks.

-BR

EDIT: Despite the fact that it still says Archvillains on the actual published arc - I'm not sure why exactly - there are no Archvillains and one Elite Boss that was defeated by a Dominator without Domination. So, I expect you should be able to solo it much easier than those who already have, but I intend to prove that as soon as I get the time to make more than very speedy changes.

UPDATE: I have fixed all of the typos airhead has pointed out to me etc. as well as generally improved the arc from the suggestions I've been given. I intend to test out putting in another EB or two and changing the final enemy to an AV perhaps later today - but that will be on the test server - to try and get it a bit closer to my original design with it still remaining relatively solo-friendly. I also changed the final EB to Electrical Blast/Ice Armor to make him a bit harder, though I may change that back if he becomes an AV.

I was about to give this a go with one of my lowly toons, when I noticed you said... Archvillain? Elite Boss? The first EB I usually meet is Frostfire in The Hollows (level 5 to enter, and then a few missions/levels to get to him). He's a challenge for team play. I know I won't be able to solo this.

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Well Dr. Aeon suggested something that usually isn't seen in levels 5-10, and so I decided my something would be Elite Bosses/Archvillains. I'm sorry you didn't even give it a try I hope if you come across a team soon, you'll consider giving it a go. The Custom Group will give regular xp, just to let you know. Also the arrangement of Elite Bosses/Archvillains is: nothing in the first mission, two EBs in the second mission, one EB in the third mission, one EB in the fourth mission and the Archvillain in the final mission.

When approaching making this arc, I wanted to make an instance for Mr. Bocor in which you get the fabled "orange text" suggesting you should form a team and you actually get that in the second mission briefing; though approaching this arc you should proably have already formed a team, or just be willing to ignore him and thus it's just for in-game reflection purposes.

If only you could make two versions of an arc designed for solo and team difficulty, while keeping it as a single arc. I'm apprehensive about changing it for solo difficulty because obviously 1) it would reduce the team difficulty 2) I would still drop in at least an Elite Boss in the final mission no matter what, thus defeating the point. Although I have defeated an Elite Boss solo before it might make it "too difficult" regardless.

Oohh, competition.

So I gave your arc a try, here are some thoughts.

First, I really enjoyed the story. Though it got a bit confusing at times, it made sense towards the end. The custom group's design was well done as were their difficulty. not too difficult, yet not completely powerless either.

*WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW!*

Some things I would fix. First, the insane number of patrols. There must have been at least 8 patrols on one mission alone! They really clog up the chat-box and make planning for attacks on the bosses really difficult. Also on the third mission, I got the feeling you weren't supposed to fight the boss in the last room first. After defeating them first, and then defeating the Legacy guy, the messages suggested that the last boss was supposed to appear after the Legacy fight. You can chain events to trigger off of other events, so setting the EB at the end to appear after the Legacy boss has been defeated would work.

*SPOILERS END HERE*

Aside from some typos here and there, nothing else really stood out to me. The dialog was excellent and the missions were fun and engaging. I may have to step up my arc to compete! =D

Oh, and the fourth mission has no Enter Mission pop-up, which I thought was strange. I don't know if it was intentional or not, just pointing that out for ya. My overall rating is 4/5 stars. Best of luck to you in the challenge!

Wait, so were you able to do it alone!? Just so I can get that really clear, because that would be a rather important factor XD After airhead's comments I did take on the final enemy weakened to an Elite Boss on my Grav/Psi Dom and I beat him pretty easily, along with the Shock Paragon - although I did die once due to me being stupid and not taking advantage of my Hover - so I think it's certainly doable. Although I have not faced the final enemy as an Archvillain yet, I intend to try to that tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback. I did do a couple of redesigns in the initial process of creating the custom group, so I'm pleased that my hard work was appreciated. I will check out the patrols as you said - I believe in the 3rd mission there were 6 + 3 more set to spawn so you may be right, I'll try and tone that down to an appropriate level - and I'll investigate what you said about the messages getting mixed up...I don't remember setting anything for the middle Legacy fight that would suggest you hadn't fought the final enemy yet - though I did intend for the fight to end with you defeating the EB last - ahhhh, I think I know what you mean. Do you mean that you receive a clue relating to the EB as the Mission Complete clue? And consequently as you didn't kill him to complete the mission it didn't make much sense.

Unfortunately the set to spawn thing doesn't really work because if they did as you did, go to the end of the mission first and then defeat the Legacy Boss they would probably 1) not think to head back to the end 2) be kind of annoyed that the first time they went there he wasn't there and then he magically appeared (or was it a she? I think it was a she, not that that really means anything XD ). I think I'll just look at finding a way to make the clues unrelated.

I wish you would have specified the typos XD but I'll look over it again in search of those elusive and annoying things :P I didn't even realise I'd put in an Entry Mission Pop-up for the rest of them, I usually don't do it unless I think it will add to the story, but I suppose I'll put a generic one in the fourth mission just to create that sense of "completeness". I'll look into your arc if I get the chance and return the favour. Good luck to you as well!

Yes, I was able to complete it alone, but I was on my Stalker, who is an amazing solo character. I died a few times, twice during EB fights and once during the first mission by the large number of Legacy mystics, but other than that I had no problem with it.

(P.S. If you do play my arc, there's a link in my sig. The two other arcs listed are not the entry arcs.)

I gave this a go, since someone got through. My feedback is in a PM. I didn't get all the way through, since my level 10 dominator struggled against a boss (but beat one EB). I was perhaps a bit lazy, but five defeats in four missions was enough, I already have another arc I'd like to poke at. I hope the PM is useful.

I do wonder if that stalker that got through was a real level 10, or exemplaring with accolades and purples.

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I soloed the final enemy EB as my Grav/Psi Dom, and I beat him pretty easy. I was exemplared from 32, and I think I have a Chance for Stun or Knockdown IO (on a power that I couldn't use ) like S_Z but that's it, and I think the only accolade I have is the one that let's you use Architect from anywhere, though that was obviously vital in my fight XD

Don't forget that when you're exemp'd you have a whole bunch more enhancements than a native level 10 would. In many sets, the first couple of powers are staples that get 5 or 6 slots by SO levels. Even with exemplar scaling, having three attacks with three damage SO's, as well as some accuracy/recharge/end reduction, is signifigantly more powerful than what's normally available.

Exactly, that is why when I playtested my entry I did it with a level 7 Corruptor who didn't even have a full set of TOs. If she could get through it with only a single death (due to recklessness) then anyone should be able to.

Okiedokie, just got back from playing my arc (with EBs become Bosses and AV becomes EB) as a Level 6-7 (he levelled) Thugs/Pain Mastermind with his only enhancements being two Level 5 Damage: one in Call Thugs and the other in Pistols, two Level 5 Healing: one in Soothe and the other in Nullify Pain and one Level 5 Defense in Maneuvers. It was challenging, but really fun! XD

Yes, I may be bias, but I did find it very entertaining, apart from the parts where my pets bugged, that was annoying, but I still managed to get away with my life. Regardless, I didn't die once, and although the final EB was a greater challenge than the rest of the Bosses for obvious reasons, he didn't actually kill a single pet, which other Bosses had. I'm thinking about changing his powersets to something nastier, again for obvious reasons. But anyway, he was more difficult than when I did it with my Dominator - or rather he took longer to kill - but not considerably so.

I put an Elite Boss in Mission 3 and 4, and changed the Elite Boss in Mission 5 to an Archvillain in the local version and tested it on the test server with my previously mentioned Mastermind who has gained 3 more enhancements (5 Damage to Call Thugs, 5 Healing to Soothe and 5 Reduced Endurance to Maneuvers). The first EB didn't give me any trouble, her powersets are limited against a single foe, especially with my thuggish friends soaking it what she could do. The second EB gave me more trouble, but we still beat her without anyone dying - due to my 1337 healing skills. In the final mission the AV became an EB - I realised why, and also realised that only a glutton for punishment would remove their AV becomes EB solo rule with the Analyst or Fortunata - and I was extremely pleased to discover that it presented the greatest challenge out of all of them. Still, I stood fast as the victor with only one Thug death. Regardless, I changed one of his sets from Ice Armor purely because it obscured his costume, and for something that should make it a bit easier also - but hopefully not too much - in Energy Aura.

So, I'm currently viewing it as the one I will be entering to the competition, but please test it and see if the EBs - even weakened as they are from the original - still pose a too great difficulty and I'll see what I can do about that. I was considering the idea of a companion in the final mission, so I may do that if it poses other people a similar difficulty that the original did for airhead.

The difficulty level is looking good now, even for an incompetent like me. I sent another short PM. Good luck with the contest!

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Played it with a (locked) level 5 Defender w/0 enhancements & 0 vet powers claimed.
Had 5 deaths (hey, that's like 1 per level!) due to either poor strategy on my part or lack of inspirations.

Enjoyed it thoroughly. Rated it a 5 (solid competitor) on 02/16.

After reading the messages here (not sure how much changes the arc has went thru), I'd like to say that I favor patrols... but no need to utilize the text dialogue for them just because it's there. I tend to go with 1/4 the allowed patrols on most of my missions, so it keeps me on my toes when I play them. But, that's me.

Good luck in the contest with this one. It's a good one.

Played through this. Did not rate it as of yet, because I see no reason to down rate a work in progress that the author asked for play throughs on.

I have no issues with the story that is being told to this point. (At this point, I have only made it to the beginning of the third mission with others in the MA group and to the end of the 2nd mission solo.)

The biggest issue that I have by far is that the custom group is severely unbalanced for the level range. At a higher level, this group would be fine, but at levels 5-10, in the group setting we were having deaths every time we encountered a patrol from this faction during the 2nd mission and wiped while inflicting minimal damage the first time we encountered a stationary group of them in mission 3.

The biggest problem with the faction for the level range is the sheer variety of powers they have. There is a reason that the devs designed bland and boring groups with a narrow range of abilities for low level content. Even the sturdiest of ATs probably do not have any mez protection yet. When you have multiple minions throwing out mez, some of them throwing out slows, most of them throwing out damage types that no one in the group has any defense or resistance against, and some healing the others in the mobs, almost no player group except those composed of players set up for strike forces are going to be able to accomplish much.

It is actually much easier to solo this arc, at least from what I saw during the two missions I ran. However, my the final boss of the 2nd mission appears to be an energy brute and she 1-punched my exemplared brute with a built up bone smasher. If she can 1 punch a brute, that means she can 1 punch any AT with the possible exception of a tank. That is simply not acceptable. I do not mind losing. I do mind it when I never have a chance to do anything.

As far as content is concerned, I would suggest you consider how you format your text blocks. At the present time, you are throwing out huge blocks of text without many paragraph breaks. There are a lot of players who will not play this for that reason alone.

I think this is probably a good story. However, the necessary work to make it readable and playable hasn't been done yet and must be done before you enter it. It could be very good, but it's just not finished yet.

I guess, since I'm mentioned here, some points to consider:

I play solo, so I can nit-pick as I go along. For a team, they could easily meet bosses within factions that are tougher than when I met them. I'm a true level 5-to-10 and thus have the default difficulty setting that reduces bosses to lieutenants while running solo (I think the powersets don't change, just the frequency and power of attacks).

I had a peacebringer. He's very squishy, having no hold powers, but he tries to avoid being in melee range. I'm now testing with a melee-only scrapper, and it's a whole 'nother world.

A team might also contain exemplared heroes. That typically makes them stronger, but if they are not careful, they will probably have their high level difficulty settings - such as "worth X heroes" - which may be higher than sensible for a beginner arcs, and could outweigh the benefits of being an exemplar. If that were true, I don't think you can be expected to design and test your arc for that scenario.

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Okiedokie, I ran through the arc checking all the text. I found a few errors, and places where I just thought something would sound better and changed those. But I don't know what you're taking about long bits of text without paragraph breaks, unless you're talking about the descriptions on the Custom Enemies. They are the only ones that come close to something like that.

I also edited the custom enemies. I removed one from the group (partly to make space for my edits) and edited the powersets of the others. In summary: I've removed all heals from the Minions and cut down the control powers as much as I could, but Lieutenants are given far too many powers for their position so sometimes I just couldn't do much. And when I say I removed all heals, they aren't custom, I just chose powersets that didn't have any heals in them. I still think that if you're fighting multiple lieutenants in a mob of Minions you may have a tough time, but there was only one enemy that did a low-resistance damage type. 5 Clicks of Toxic. That was all I found.

In conclusion, I'm sorry you guys got wiped. I've made changes that will hopefully make that less likely; but as airhead says, if you're in that convoluted scenario I won't help you. That may sound harsh, but the reason I won't help you is because if I were to do so, I would probably damage the experience for the other more common scenarios in which people will play my arc. Regardless, I have made some changes that should help you.

P.S. A friend told me people who were following the story of the arc might like to know what happened to Solomon. If you would, I direct you this thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=207568.

Coming from the level 5 defender here with 0/enhancements (default settings), the way I dealt with the custom critter heals was back up, back up, back up from the one I was attacking... as my attack recharged, I stopped to fight. The healer was too busy moving (and sometimes trying to return) to get off many heals. Gotta try new strategies at that level and see what works. You're fighting faulty AI, not other players. Don't just stand there beating away while the other is healing hoping things will change. And as far as BU on custom enemies. You see it coming... if you know the critter is ranged or melee (again, if you know)... do the opposite of their strength. Again... faulty AI here. Ranged will burn the timer trying to get away usually and melee will burn the timer trying to chase you.

Like I said in my pm, good luck with the challenge. I doubt I'll be playing through this again. I have a lot of others' to play through and you seem to be pretty happy with yours the way it is.