Mission Architect Arc Club

Casualties of War. . . . I was playing through this with an SG teammate of mine, so we had two Empaths going--one a plant controller, the other an archery defender. For my part, I was on Tubbius, my level 50 plant control/empath/ice epic character. Hilarity ensued as we kept a constant stream of Recovery/Regen Auras and Healing Auras going. While my friend died a few times, Vengeance came in handy, and then he was rezzed so we could continue on our way.

The strongest point of this is the story, as Glenn notes immediately above. This story is exceptionally well-written overall, and the final clues in the last mission are agonizingly heart-rending. The arc does provide a potent challenge, and it clearly shows a passion for staying close to canon while digging a little deeper.

Mission 1: Short and action packed. I don't think I've ever SEEN this map before.

Mission 2: Frantic and busy for the first few fights until my friend and I could pause, get our bearings, and discuss what was going on. "We're in the middle of a two-way fight!" "Great. Now what do we do?" "Rescue some dudes." "And kill anything else that moves? OK!" Very neat use of dialog throughout, but why particularly do you have differences in the Rikti who speak in symbols and the ones who speak in traditional "This way: we talk" sorts of language?

Mission 3: I love this map. I always have. However, I do agree that the number of body bags is excessive. My friend and I clicked ALL of them expecting one/some of them to be the people we were looking for.

Mission 4: This hospital map, while fitting for a mission like this, is impossibly tight for maneuverability. This was only complicated by the EB spawning at the far end of a very tight hall filled with curtains and junk.

Mission 5: Again, the clues are amazing in this mission. However, not realizing I was hunting for glowies in the end led to being a little puzzled and misled by the random encounters throughout. They're perfectly fitting, but I kept expecting to find a hero here or there, and I got lucky in noticing the first glowy flashing on the ground while I was flying by after taking down the EB. After finding the first one, the others were within a small area, which made the last moments of the mission go by quickly.

Personally, I five-starred the story on the strength of its writing and attention to detail. While the outside maps and the hospital and the many glowies aren't necessarily my style, they're somebody's style, and they're all perfectly suited to this arc. I wouldn't CHANGE anything, as it all fits in very well, but I know that these particular elements might or might not appeal to certain players.

Very well done on the whole!

Played this again last night. I played it quite a while ago, and it still holds up pretty well. I like most of the changes except for the map choices. Although take in mind that this is coming from someone that's played over 250 AE arcs at this point - I'm so tired of the fiery footprints map. It's an awesome map but I've been on it over a dozen times already, also the mayhem hospital. And while I'm glad that the first boss is no longer a Ballista, now he seems too easy. But it's not something that really needs changing.

It's been a long time since I played Casualties of War and I can tell you have made several changes though for the life on me can't figured out what they all were. The battle in the second mission was epic and the best MA created one I've seen. Still 5 stars.


WN

Casualties of War

Run by Doctor Gemini L44 Inv/SS Tank

General Pros: Overall, this was one of the best story arcs I've ever run. It gave me a definite feel of being in the middle of a war (although running it at 0/x4 also added to the flavor in that area). A very strong story, and getting to know the NPCs through it creates (at least for me) the proper effect for the ending.

For me to love this story says alot given that, up to now, I HATE (and that's not even strong enough of word for it) missions on outdoor maps. In this case, however, instead of my usual getting to the objectives and getting it over with as quickly as possible, I was compelled to run the maps and take out everything on them, simply because the atmosphere of fighting a war was so well crafted.

General Cons: While I have a few personal nitpicks with some of the missions I'll run down below, I only have one overall con. I like the missions to be numbered. People don't always have time to complete a story arc in one sitting (or at least, I don't, so I assume others have the same issue at times). Since it's easy to lose track, knowing if I have one mission left or 3 is a big deal.

Mission 2: I did not understand why every one of the Vanguard on the map were enemies and fighting the Rikti. The traitor Vanguard would not be fighting Rikti, and the loyal ones (unless I missed something) should not be fighting me. In fact, at one point some off-screen Vanguard said something about giving me cover or something similar. As far as I could tell, they wanted to give me cover so they could blow me away themselves.

When you rescue Captain Superior, his clue makes it sound like he is going to investigate the hospital immediately not go with you first.

Mission 3: This mission I both liked and disliked. One has to, IMO, strike a balance between telling a story and telling a story within the context of this being a game. While rescuing the heroes is a necessary part of the story, having them as allies afterwards hurts the game part, especially in AE. I believe it would be far better for most of them to have some excuse not to accompany you.

Also, on the same subject of story vs. game balance, the body bags are a problem. They set a great atmosphere. They get incredibly annoying after opening the first few. When I walked into a room with 4 of them visible, and I could see a glow of another just around the next corner, that was very cool. A feeling which went away as I clicked on the first one, which was the 1 millionth bag in this mission I had checked. The first time you go through this, the player has no clue he does not need to check each bag. I think you need a clue when you open the first bag that basically tells the player all body bags in the mission are burned Rikti bodies and need not be checked.

Overall: IMO, this rates among the top ten arcs in the entire game (which includes dev content, although my "top 10" list actually has far more than 10 arcs). This rates a Thumbs Up (5 stars).

Edit: Having read through the other reviews (I generally avoid doing so until I've written my own) I wanted add...

Mission 4: I also thought the EB in the hospital is just too big for the map. When I ran it, he ended up in a tiny room, with his helpers spilling out into the corridor. This made it relatively easy for me, actually, since I was able to take down his minions without worrying about him. With the extreme knockback my powers have, he spent most of his time in the wall and hardly got any shots on me. That was the only EB I've ever fought that I didn't have to click on Unstoppable until the fight was more than half over.

And yet another arc up for this week.

Title: Until the End of the World
Arc ID: 431270
Author: @Archdemon (aka Eva Destruction)
Faction: Villainous
Level Range: 40-50
Difficulty: Average. One custom EB, and a custom group that is designed to be of reasonable difficulty for the level range.
Enemy Groups: Arachnos, Council, Freakshow, Customs.

Synopsis: A contact points you to an unexpected opportunity. Someone else takes the fall. An Arbiter demands justice, and he'll pay to get it. And an obsessed thief learns that sometimes it's not better to have loved and lost; not when someone like you has so much to gain.

Feedback: Please.

This was my attempt to write an arc with the "Romance" flag. The result...er, well, it's a very loose interpretation of the "Romance" flag. It does assume a certain amount of greed on your character's part, as well as a pre-existing association with your contact. Also, there are robots.

Title: Until the End of the World
Arc ID: 431270

I played this arc recently since it's nominated for a players' choice award, so I think I can review this from memory:

Pros: I loved it. It's "generic" enough that I can play it with any and all of my villains, and I think I will.

Cons: The romance part of the story took a lot of time to reveal itself. Sadly it didn't involve the parties I thought it would.

Review: Until the End of the World
Arc ID 431270

37 Ice/Psi Dominator

I found this arc enjoyable. It has interesting dialogue and good level pacing and flow. You used a diverse group of stock enemies supplemented by some custom enemies. Some of the mission objectives were confusing but this was more because they were presented in a way to be mysterious. You may have gone a little overboard with objectives and combat chat but this a style choice so I am not counting it against you.

Overall, I gave the story a 5 star rating.

Story – The story is good. I like how you connected the missions with existing locations within the game. It really helped connect the game to the wider world. It is more mystery, sci-fi, drama then romance so I would remove that tag. Your starting contact has a lot of personality in her dialogue. In your initial description, I would use the heist tag [HPMA].
In the mission 1 send off you use the word “I’ve never managed to get past the security measures on the security measures”. I would rewrite this as, “I’ve never managed to get into their security system”.

Gameplay- You choose some good levels for this story arc. They really connect with the enemies you choose for them. The custom enemies seemed about right. You even managed to make a MM boss fight enjoyable which is rare. Your enemies have some interesting dialogue especially the robots. Some enemies do tend to get wordy. I am not a big fan of this especially when it disrupts combat. After all, if I were to get in a knife fight with someone I would not be talking a full paragraph with them. I would be concentrating on killing them.

Objectives- Objectives are a little convoluted. When they stuff like “Secure your escape” or “Find out what he is looking for” they do not point me in any direction. Combine this with the fact you used mission glowies to help detail the area. It made some missions confusing. I would rewrite some of your objectives to be a little clearer and list those unneeded mission glowies as optional.

“Secure your escape” could change to “Defeat Lead Security Droid”

An optional glowie could be written like this “(Optional) Scavenge 8 robot parts”

Just an Idea I had with the past two missions Until the End of the World and Casualties of War. Why not replace the dead rikti and robot glowies with a group of allies that are playing the unconscious animation. If you set up an optional rescue with the surrounding enemies as allies you cannot defeat the allies to trigger them to get up and leave. You could even give them some unaware chat like a Rikti groan or robot Bzztt. The player would not feel compelled to click on them at all and since they are optional, you would not even have to list them as objectives.

“I’ve never managed to get past the security measures on the security measures”. I would rewrite this as, “I’ve never managed to get into their security system”.

What she means is - even the security measures have security measures, and I haven't even gotten past them!

I just played this today and I really enjoyed it. My only note is that it has the dreadfully popular fiery footprints map (see: what I said about Casualties of War)

[QUOTE=Supicous Glenn;3411632]

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It is more mystery, sci-fi, drama then romance so I would remove that tag. Your starting contact has a lot of personality in her dialogue. In your initial description, I would use the heist tag [HPMA].

Drama, maybe. I think it's tagged as that also. Mystery, eh, I always think of "mystery" as applying more to detective-style arcs. Your character doesn't need to care about the WHY of what is happening, you're just trying to take somebody's stuff. Sci-fi, sure, in our world, but not so much in the CoX world. I don't use any of the million player-created tags simply because there are so many I don't know what they all mean, and they've largely fallen into disuse. The romance tag amuses me. Why, just the other day, I said to my husband, "if I die, promise you won't build a highly destructive robot copy of me." He said ok.

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Some enemies do tend to get wordy. I am not a big fan of this especially when it disrupts combat. After all, if I were to get in a knife fight with someone I would not be talking a full paragraph with them. I would be concentrating on killing them.

I would really like it if there were some other way to get this kind of information across to the player, but there really isn't. So you interrupt a lot of monologues. As for the combat dialogue, extended trash talking is a staple of the comic book genre. The ability to say an entire paragraph in the time span of a single punch is a super power all it's own.

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Objectives- Objectives are a little convoluted. When they stuff like “Secure your escape” or “Find out what he is looking for” they do not point me in any direction. Combine this with the fact you used mission glowies to help detail the area. It made some missions confusing. I would rewrite some of your objectives to be a little clearer and list those unneeded mission glowies as optional. “Secure your escape” could change to “Defeat Lead Security Droid” An optional glowie could be written like this “(Optional) Scavenge 8 robot parts”

I've never liked the "optional" objectives. I find them immersion breaking. I use the nav bar to deliver character knowledge as much as possible, and your character doesn't know those blinkies are relatively unimportant to the overall story. Hence, nav bar objectives such as "find out what they are looking for;" your character doesn't know. If I give it all away at the beginning of the mission, it's confusing to the player (at least, it's confusing to me when I encounter such information out of nowhere), and then I can't use the mission itself to progress the story.

I know a lot of people do use the "optional" thing, and I don't hold it against them, but it's just something I personally don't like doing.

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Originally Posted by Supicous Glenn Just an Idea I had with the past two missions Until the End of the World and Casualties of War. Why not replace the dead rikti and robot glowies with a group of allies that are playing the unconscious animation. If you set up an optional rescue with the surrounding enemies as allies you cannot defeat the allies to trigger them to get up and leave. You could even give them some unaware chat like a Rikti groan or robot Bzztt. The player would not feel compelled to click on them at all and since they are optional, you would not even have to list them as objectives.

Anything allied will fight when aggrod. Using allied critters doing the "unconscious" emote has been tried, it doesn't work in any mission with patrols and will also fail if the player drags enemies to them.

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Originally Posted by Bubbawheat I just played this today and I really enjoyed it. My only note is that it has the dreadfully popular fiery footprints map (see: what I said about Casualties of War)

Yeah, well I like that map, so pthhhht! Not our fault there's a serious dearth of maps that are on fire or otherwise severely damaged, and all the other ones are small.

The idea that I mentioned earlier is used in the last mission in the Lady Grey Task Force. When you first enter the building, all those Rikti and Longbow are laid out on the floor. Yes, it would not work with patrols set in the same location. However, if you put the unconscious spawns in front and used up all the spawn points allowed for the front. Enemies would not have spawn places to spawn and thus would not be there to draw aggro.

Having just recently come across this entire thread (I know, where have I been?), I'd love to get involved in this club. I think there are some great MA stories out there, and I've been enjoying getting to see the real player created content that isn't just some farm mission. So, with that in mind, I definitely need to go in and rewrite my very first arc to give it a lot more depth, and possibly create a new one with some ideas I've got bouncing around in my head.

I look forward to seeing what comes up.

Until the End of the World is another arc I have ran through before, but I gave it another go and found it lots of fun. My blaster did have a tough go of it and I had to knock my settings down to "No Bosses" mainly because I had the misfortune of having several spawn close to each other. Also, I agree with Glenn that not having the Optional cluse listed does through me off a bit, but no biggie.

I was happy to notice the arc is now on page 3. Congrats!


WN

Thank you all for running Casualties of War and your kind comments and wonderful suggestions. The holiday season and other things have kept me away from both the game and the boards, so this was a great late Christmas present. I promise I'll look at all the suggestions very closely.

A couple things right off the top of my head...

All the Vanguard in the 2nd mission are supposed to be allies. If there are any that aren't, it's a mistake in arc "programming" and I'll be looking for it.

I'll take a look at the bodies in the 4th mission and see about acting on the suggestions made.

I'll probably change the boss in the 4th mission as well, more than likely making a custom since the the other stock Rikti bosses are either a) too easy, or b) anacronistic.

Headed to the game to check out where the arcs are. Hopefully the changes will be in place the next couple of days. Thank you again -- very much!

Played Until the End of the World as part of the Mission Architect contest. Wasn't playing it with a super-critical eye in regards to giving feedback, but I can give a quick pro/con.

What I liked: The contact being a lackey of the player character is something that villain arcs definitely need to do more. It helps it seem like you're being ACTUALLY proactive, since the contact is working for you, instead of being "proactive" because YOU'RE THE ONE ROBBING THE BANK! (at someone else's request.)

What could use work: The villain building the robots (I can't remember the name off the top of my head) didn't really seem to have a lot of personality. The real heart of the arc came from the evidence of his relationship you find in clues. The few encounters with the villain are mostly just quick fights where he is largely tight-lipped about everything, and in the end (we need spoiler tags)








he gets killed off camera. Granted, the arc is REALLY about his dead girlfriend, but he's still an integral character to the plot and I feel like he wasn't quite given enough spotlight.

Until the End of the World (431270)

I ran it on a 50 assault rifle/devices/munitions mastery blaster, Pistola.

Overall, it's another well-written, well-designed arc in the AE machine. Facing the bots mastermind for the first time in mission 1, in a tight space next to an elevator door, was difficult, to say the least, and the objectives are a little vague in spots, as someone else mentioned, but given the player's lack of knowledge of the events, going vague might be the best way to handle things here. One thing I might consider suggesting is doing something to reduce the bombs in the flaming map and the destroyable stuff in the big warehouse; these do add personality to the arc, yes, but they can also distract the player from the overall storyline.

Mission 2, in particular, does a fine job of chaining objectives, which can be difficult to accomplish properly. The Freaks are a nice change of pace, as well, and the robots--a custom group, I think?--appear to be balanced overall. The final boss, though, was smashing me for 800+ damage. That might be able to be toned down somewhat.

As noted above, overall, what we have here is a good arc that's well-written with a mostly easy to follow focus.

Two thumbs up.

Until the End of the World

I liked the story overall and also liked how the contact was your lackey. However the arc suffers from some serious clue overload, it didn't help either that the UI keeps scrolling back up every time I get a new one, so I have to search through them all to find the new one every time.

Thanks to everyone who played. I honestly didn't expect any new plays what with the AE player awards being so recent, so it was a pleasant surprise. And thanks for commenting to everyone who had already played it for the awards.

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Originally Posted by Wrong_Number Until the End of the World is another arc I have ran through before, but I gave it another go and found it lots of fun. My blaster did have a tough go of it and I had to knock my settings down to "No Bosses" mainly because I had the misfortune of having several spawn close to each other. Also, I agree with Glenn that not having the Optional cluse listed does through me off a bit, but no biggie.

I agree, it's a bit boss-heavy, and probably better suited to melee. If we had better spawn control they wouldn't be spawning so close to each other (unless you mean you have to fight one boss after another without any spawns in between to restock your inspirations), but at least they can all be pulled, so there is that.

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I was happy to notice the arc is now on page 3. Congrats!

Page four now, but still...fingers crossed.

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Originally Posted by LaserJesus What I liked: The contact being a lackey of the player character is something that villain arcs definitely need to do more. It helps it seem like you're being ACTUALLY proactive, since the contact is working for you, instead of being "proactive" because YOU'RE THE ONE ROBBING THE BANK! (at someone else's request.)

Thanks, that's my favorite part of it too.

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What could use work: The villain building the robots (I can't remember the name off the top of my head) didn't really seem to have a lot of personality. The real heart of the arc came from the evidence of his relationship you find in clues. The few encounters with the villain are mostly just quick fights where he is largely tight-lipped about everything,

Will ponder this and take another look at his dialogue. He doesn't get a lot of space in which to talk (especially since in his first appearance he's a betraying ally and they don't get to talk much anymore), but that still gives me quite a few lines to work with.

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Originally Posted by Tubbius Overall, it's another well-written, well-designed arc in the AE machine. Facing the bots mastermind for the first time in mission 1, in a tight space next to an elevator door, was difficult, to say the least,

Until we get more precise spawn control, stuff like that will keep happening sometimes. I prefer that Arachnos warehouse to the other, elevatorless one for reasons that I can't quite remember but probably have something to do with chaining objectives, and I'm not using an Arachnos lab because I hate them, so I acknowledge that the map might have a few problem spots, especially once you throw in a patrol or three. Actually....right up the elevator is the worst spot on that map, so if he showed up there, um, sorry?

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One thing I might consider suggesting is doing something to reduce the bombs in the flaming map and the destroyable stuff in the big warehouse; these do add personality to the arc, yes, but they can also distract the player from the overall storyline.

The bombs are numerous to increase the chances of the player randomly stumbling upon one in a map where they're not looking for them and is on fire. The destroyables....they're there to keep Council from spawning in the first room. I guess I could replace one or two of the sillier ones (I can't remember if I already removed the car, but it was the silliest one) with optional bosses that only show up after one of the later objectives is completed.

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The final boss, though, was smashing me for 800+ damage. That might be able to be toned down somewhat.

Not really unfortunately. A Super Strength boss without KO Blow is a bit of a pushover for a level 40+ arc unless you give them Rage, which I'm not doing because an 800 pt melee attack is easier to avoid for a squishy than a thrown rock that hits for over half your HP and ignores the purples you ate. Maybe Rage has been toned down enough that it no longer leads to painful death and massive frustration, I don't know, but I've fought enough critters with it before the change to curse the author's name every time I see that tell-tale glow, so.... As a longtime Blaster player who has been on the receiving end of many Rikti swords and KO Blows and Total Focuses and other Really Nasty Things That Kill Squishies Dead, I can sympathize but at this point in the game's development it's pretty much par for the course that high-level enemies will instant-death-kill you if you're squishy and unprepared. Of course you KNOW that Longbow Warden has KO Blow, you don't know that the custom critter does....but I tend to assume everything I encounter will kill me in horrible nasty ways until after its corpse is long faded.

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Originally Posted by Lazarus Until the End of the World I liked the story overall and also liked how the contact was your lackey. However the arc suffers from some serious clue overload, it didn't help either that the UI keeps scrolling back up every time I get a new one, so I have to search through them all to find the new one every time.

Can't win. Too few clues, someone tells you "this and that should have a clue." Too many, and someone tells you there are too many clues. I did try to set my objectives more or less in the order I expected the player to encounter them, but beyond that there isn't much I can do besides stop trying to cram so much detail into a five-mission arc, and detail-heavy arcs are my personal preference, so...stylistic differences I guess.

Thanks again to everyone who played and commented. *Summons Bubbawheat to put up this week's arc*

I forgot to post this yesterday, and don't have much time at the moment. But this week's arc is Tubbius's Hammer and Sickle of Paragon City. Congrats on your 10th week of participation and Gold member status!

Arc ID: 351727
Arc Title: Hammer and Sickle of Paragon City
Factions: 5th Column and Council
Morality: Heroic
Length: 5 Missions
Level Range: 30-54
Description: Two former Soviet agents turned heroes, American Hammer and New York Sickle, have gone missing on what should have been a routine clearing of a 5th Column base. Find out what happened to them, and help your heroic contacts stop a plot by the 5th Column to unleash chemical warfare on the Council.
Warning: Contains an Elite Boss in mission 5.

Yayyyy!

So, do I review my own arc for this, or do I sit this week out? What do you want me to do, Bubbawheat?

You can sit out, or use incoming feedback to update your arc. Thanks for all your continued support on this club, I appreciate it.

Review: Hammer and Sickle of Paragon City

Arc ID 351727

Level 41 Fire/Invulnerability Tank

I couldn’t really get into this arc. The story seemed lack luster, the objectives were not all that fantastic and you used council and 5th column enemies throughout the entire arc (Which is essentially the same villain group). However, everything that is in the arc came out polished and that counts for a lot.

Story- The story is interesting although confusing at times. I think the overall theme has to be duplicity. This naturally lends itself to a confusing story. Many of your characters are turncoats but seem to lack justification on why they took this path. You mention their motives at times but you don’t explore their motives in any detail. This may be because you have so many characters that you don’t have time to delve deeply into any of them or it might be because you never meet the characters before they decided to switch sides.

There are many style issues throughout your arc. The most common problem is the gratuitous use of commas. It makes your arc a bit hard to read times. Examples are:

“This was supposed to be a simple, routine act of heroism.” It could be changed to “This was supposed to be a simple routine act of heroism.”

“I have not heard from them yet, and all of the Omniscients are busy.” It could be changed “I have not heard from them yet and all of the Omniscients are busy.”

Here is a good read on comma use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma

You also use present tense at times when you should be using future tense. This makes some of your sentences sound awkward. Example:

“American Hammer and New York Sickle await your rescuing them.” It could be changed to “American Hammer and New York Sickle await your rescue.”

Gameplay- The gameplay is balanced throughout the entire arc. This is because you used standard enemy groups instead of custom ones. This is both a weakness and strength so I won’t go much further into it. Your few custom bosses are all spawning as lieutenants that may be intended. I felt it made the signature characters weak since I have bosses enabled and it would spawn random bosses stronger then the lieutenant you were suppose to defeat to end the mission. You have good objective placing and great use of pets.

I would numerical label your mission in the title or subtitle so we know what mission it is.

Objectives- You used decent maps and objectives are chained in a well. Many of your clues get jumbled up and it is hard to find which clues go to what. You might want to cut down on some them and find ways for these clues to be written as dialogue from enemies and allies.

Overall, I rated this arc 5 stars. You didn’t try something exciting and unique. This made the arc not that exciting to play while at the same time not frustrating in the least.

I personally love the Mission Architet system, so much so that 98% of my game time is spent in it. Sign me up, this sounds like a great ideal.

Might I even recommend an Arc that was made to help new players get used to the diffrent types of enemies they'll be facing in the game? it's callled "Learning The Ropes", and it is a very well written and elaborate tutorial that dives into the game lore just enough to get players intrested but not overwhelm them.

Glenn,

First off, thank you for the feedback. I'll definitely take that into consideration. I do understand the difficulty with the character management and motivations, and any specific suggestions you or others might give would certainly be appreciated. For me, the biggest issue is the relationship between the main rescue plot and the Council/Column subplot. As it is, the two are loosely intertwined--a distinct possibility in the world of heroics, though not necessarily the strongest for telling a story!

Second off, thank you for the suggestions regarding the use of punctuation and mechanics. However, I feel I'm doing fine there; a careful look through current style guide usage shows that the punctuation throughout is correct and recommended. I will, though, see what I can do regarding tightening up the language for ease of reading. Thank you for pointing that out.

Finally, thank you for your overall objectivity. I understand how some arcs don't grab some players, and that's perfectly fine. Thank you for giving it a try!

AND WAHOO! As of this rating, Hammer and Sickle is up to a 5-star average again at 152 rates!

--Tubbius

= = = = =

OR NOT. As of today, 1-17-2011, I logged in to find the arc STILL at 152 ratings, but with my having 25 random tickets to claim on something somewhere with no comments on anything, and the arc having dropped to a 4-star average. What gives? Not blaming Glenn or anything. Just needed somewhere to post this where folks might know something.