Architect Arc Club


Bubbawheat

 

Posted

Thanks for the the thoughts on Whack a Mole. I agree it could use a few more enemies. I kept it lighter because I was planning on expanding the arc to parody the other trials as well, but haven't gotten around to that part yet, and not sure if I will anytime soon.

Also, for those running low on arcs they haven't played before, find some arcs to put on the recommended arcs list. This club isn't just about playing each others arcs, it's also about finding other good arcs that haven't been found by a lot of others and sharing those with the rest of the community.


 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Coulomb2 View Post
EDIT: I did notice @Fantastic Foe wanted Shadows replaced with exploding planet - but only after playing the arc and doing the writeup. Hopefully one more round of feedback for that one will be welcome.
Hey, I hope people still play Grime Alley, I welcome all the feedback.

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It’s a day later than expected, but here’s my second arc for Arc Club for December.

Arc #144416 Shadow of Grime Alley by @Fantastic Foe, Vigilante 45+, 49 plays

Overall Impression: It’s actually a cute arc, albeit one that, IMO really needs some polish to get really good. The story is easy to follow, but enjoyable none the less, and the pacing of the missions is just fine. Ever subjective, the humor was actually simple enough that it did usually work for me, though.


The dialog needs a significant editing pass to correct some grammer errors (and some places with awkward wording), and I do think really fleshing out the custom group would work well (along with the Skulls in King’s Row).
I hear you, ally. I'll have some comments about the custom thugs who support the Gat and Skulls below. You clearly are correct about my weak editing.

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To be honest, I see no real reason why this should be a 45+ arc. The story, factions, and setting really speak to it working just fine as a 20-30 arc (and I will point out that the lower level ranged really jump around a lot – I’d force all of the missions to have the same level range if at all possible).

You're not the only one to point out that it has a mid-level feel. If I can reveal some design thoughts, my goal was to make a Batman-like mission arc for me to run my natural-origin scrappers through. At level 50, I enjoyed fighting aliens and sorcerers, but I did miss beating up on regular thugs other than street sweeping lowbies.

I wish that we had more gang war/syndicate type crime at higher levels in CoH.

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Overall, I’d give it 3 stars as-is: it’s got potential, but still needs a fair amount of work. But with some effort (and I’ve detailed a decent number of things below) it could easily move up to 4 or 5. This time around, as per my normal way of doing things (4 or 5 stars gets it 5 in game, less leaves it unrated), I left it unrated in game. I’ll point out if the author doesn’t mind me rating it 4 stars in game, I’ll be happy to do so (and I’m always open to revisiting arcs in the future and changing my rating).

One final point here: while the arc is about a Vigilante, it isn't really a 'Vigilante' arc: the player's character is acting more or less like a normal hero, not a vigilante.
I was toying with making it more of a vigilante arc, since mission three implied that you weren't welcome in the police station. But I thought I had returned the mission alignment back to Heroic (as it was originally, when the arc was first produced Going Rogue had not yet come out.)

I'll reset that to Heroic. Mission three (the police station) will be getting an overhaul, since the map won't support what I really wanted. It'll end up being more of an information gathering non-combat mission.

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Anyway, hopefully the feedback is helpful. And now for my thoughts while I was actually playing the arc…

Thoughts along the way.

The accept text in mission one is partially cut off – maybe a very minor reword so it all fits.

Okay, very nitpicky, but something to think about. I just asked the contact if Mike’s Grill is still there, but he just kind of ignores me! You could actually improve immersion a bit by having him actually answer the question (“Sorry to tell you, but it got hit by a firebomb, or something”).
That's an interesting point. I'll think about that. My narrative powers are still being developed, it wasn't until I started running arcs from these threads that I saw a lot of variety and experimentation in mission briefing, debriefing, and the mission acceptance text.

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Grime alley has a tragic history? And I already knew that? Huh?

Pop up in mission one has a comma splice – should be three separate sentences.

I’d just put in actual Skulls – the “flavor patrols” of customs are barely worth any XP anyway, so why not go for authenticity, eh? (At the very least, though, they could use a ‘makeover’ to help them look more like actual Skulls)
I think when I first created the mission arc, we were limited on what mob levels could be put into the mission. I'd wanted this to be a mission for my high level scrapper, and the Skulls were making the mission very low. I'd wanted some Skulls on the map for flavor, so I created some customs. I'll experiment in seeing about putting actual Skulls on.

I appreciate your eye for how they look, I could use some time to craft better looking Skulls.

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Mike’s friend’s “bodybag” looks set to “fade in” – which doesn’t make much sense (makes it look like I’m *putting* a body there!).
The bodies of the bum and the dead buttonman have always been a problem, one way or another. I wanted the fade in to have some narrative control, but it could work just as well to have you find the dead buttonman and then have Sara tell you about her encounter when the Gat killed him. I'll give that some thought.

As it is, the mission is much better now than the original design where the two bodies were required objectives.

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Some of the Family’s patrol dialog is actually pretty funny.
Thanks!

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Why did the Family ambush me when I rescued Sara? She didn’t really seem like a ‘high priority prisoner’ they’d want back at all costs – especially if they’re already afraid that some sort of vigilante is on the loose and killing people.
I think you might have just aggroed some nearby Family. Sara doesn't spawn an ambush. The mobs guarding her will fight you, since you're a hero, they're not necessarily trying to prevent you from rescuing her, just trying to keep you from applying a beatdown on them.

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Wordings a little awkward in the debriefing: I’d say “So the Family aren’t in King’s Row to expand their territory? They’re…” (and so on) Oh, and should be “hard to swallow”, not “hard to swallow with” (which almost sounds dirty).

Pop of for mission two: I’d put a comma after the cooking pasta (it’s the second element in a list).

Heh, the boss’ dialog set up actually worked quite well for me: it looked for all the world like he was trying to get his “tough guy” dialog out, but was having trouble since I was busy beating him to a pulp.
Thanks again!

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Eh … it kind of strains credibility that an ambush squad of “mooks” would hit the place the moment the boss went down just to try to take over operations on behalf of a different crime family. What were they tracking me or something? How’d they even know I’d just arrested the boss?
Well... I'd just chalk it up to coincidence. The design goal was to introduce that while the Family was hunting for someone in Kings Row called the Gat, there was an element other than just a lone gunman attacking them. I'll give this entire element some thought, I appreciate the feedback.


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I’d add a bit more to the objective text: instead of “Clue” I’d flesh it out to “Find the last clue” or “Find last clue.”
Laziness on my part. This was one of my first AE arcs, and it shows. I'm blind to these details when I run my own stuff, so I appreciate it being pointed out.


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More comma splices in the opening briefing for mission three – best to split some of those up into separate sentences.

Suggested rewrite to: “…the brass has been emphatic that we regular joes not become complacent.” (And again, this really should be its own sentence; borderline comma-splice as is.)

Also:
*and* not the secret entrance to the prison block I know you have (sendoff text for mission three)

Hey … isn’t this basically just Batman’s origin story?
I can neither confirm nor deny if Batman's origin story inspired Wayne Thomason becoming the Gat after seeing his criminally connected parents gunned down by a mugger in the Grime Alley district of Kings Row.

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Since the text does mention me saving police officers, I wonder if the mission would be better served by adding some rescues? (Might not be possible – I kind of remember the police station maps don’t allow rescue details, but I figured I’d suggest it just in case).
Yes, no rescue details for police maps. I almost had it happen at a pawn shop that the police had commandeered for field operations. This mission is due for a total reworking.

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More comma splices in the debriefing. Remember – if it’s two independent phrases, use a period, not a comma.

All of your other mission “headers” have been light blue – I’d make the one for mission four the same, just for consistency.

Wait, so the Mooks are working with the Gat? (Or his son) --and I’ve give Don Nippolio (something like that) a fleshed out objective (“like Find Don Nippolio” – it just lists his name right now).
I'll work on that. The entire encounter with Don Napolino needs to be reworked. I've had feedback that it was unclear what had happened in regards to the Don's daughter, why the Gat spared Napolino when he had bumped off the others (I thought the clues and Stacy's statements were enough, but I'll work on it.)

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About the custom group, some tips, if you’re interested:

One, they look like a bunch of clones. I suspect you’ve got plenty of room left; I’d really flesh ‘em out by making several copies of each in the group, and varying hair style and face (you can also give them different weapons, but that’s not strictly necessary).

Two, I’d leave off the symbols on their chests. For one, if they’re supposed to represent the Mook faction villain side, those guys don’t have identifying insignia; and most of the mobsters in the game follow suit. It’s really the low-level street gangs that usually have insignia (like the Hellions or the Skulls, or even the Warriors).

Also, the Goon’s description needs a period at the end.
It's unfortunate (for me) that there is a faction called Mooks in the game. I'm not a huge COV player, and I've gotten some feedback asking about the Mooks. Mook is a generic term for thug, and I was just using it as a label for low end members of the Gat's Goons. (Goon was almost always the faction working for the signature villains in the Adam West Batman show.)

They're identical, mainly because when the arc was first produced, we had tighter filesize limits. The Gat's support team of henchmen and thugs will be getting a face lift soon.

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Heh, the daughter asking for the address of my secret lair was actually kind of funny.
You didn't tell her, right? (Thanks!)

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Seems odd Gat’s using dual pistols – when people kept saying Big freaking gun, I kind of envisioned something more like the larger models you can use with Assault Rifle.

You know, I do think saying that after the Gat “falls” his minions whisk him away under a withering barrage of gunfire is kind of immersion breaking (his ambush goons hadn’t even gotten there yet, for one). I think it’d be much, much better to make that happen “off screen” after the mission (mentioned maybe in the debrief) – have the police van transporting him to the jail get ambushed and overwhelmed or something.
I'll work on that. At the very least, the Gat should get support team earlier in the encounter.

I wish I could have the Gat carry only one handgun (I always imagined it as a handcannon type weapon), but the original mastermind AT (that the first incarnation of the Gat (and Goons) were based on, and the dual pistol powerset are two guns.

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In the debriefing I didn’t quite get what “that is if he was just in it for revenge” meant in context with the first part of the sentence – I think you need to clarify the wording a bit.

Oh, and, you guessed it, more comma splices in the mission five text too… just do a very careful sweep and break up some of those splices.
Fair enough. Another thing to work on. Again, I appreciate all of this feedback.

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What the heck was that with the thin, Elite Boss (and dark armor?!) version of the Gat. Granted, the “Batman” jokes are kinda funny – and I do like the fact he actually is using a big gun – but what the heck is he even there for? (Operative Parker’s dialog didn’t really clear this up for me either)

Well, the patrol clears it up a little, but the idea behind the decoy does kind of seem like a stretch, although that’s just my opinion.
I'll be working on mission five overall. I'll not confirm or deny if the decoy aspect will be played up, or if the laughing maniacal tall skinny pale person will remain on the map. Hopefully it'll work better.

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Found the real Gat (okay, Gat-shield deploy also made me smile a bit). The truth is that just made me question the decoy even more. Why would Gat give the decoy a perfectly serviceable *gun* (and an assault rifle no less) when *he’s* totally out of ammo. Wouldn’t he make the decoy fight bare-fisted and use the gun himself?

I did also think Arachnos’ role in this felt a little ‘tacked on’ – the story certainly makes enough sense without it (and there’s nothing that says that Gat couldn’t be lairing in an abandoned Arachnos hideout in Faultline).

EDIT: Oh, and just for the record, I did get the Batman references (beyond the origin story thing I mentioned earlier) - there's a lot of them, and I did get a kick out of the parallels.

I'll work on the Arachnos connection so it's less tacked on. Since Wayne Thomason was busted out of the Zig during the infamous Destined One raid (touched on in mission three), I felt I had laid some groundwork that Recluse was now backing Thomason as the Gat, a Gat who had a new Recluse-inspired agenda.

I'll give a heads up when I've reworked the arcs, and thanks again to everyone who gave it a run.

Best regards and Happy New Year!


Virtue Server-

MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)

#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)

#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"

#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"

 

Posted

Okay, now that the New Year is here, it's time for me to start actually doing missions. I will start tomorrow, but for now, I've just published the arc I've been working on.

Arc Title: The Clockwork Angel
Author: @Spectreblade
Arc ID: 534236

Keywords: Canon Related, Origin Story, Sci-Fi
Length: 4 Missions
Morality: Heroic
Description: A DATA scientist is working on a project, and needs a few heroes to help test it. But will she be able to deal with the unwanted attention it brings her?

Link to more detailed info

You can expect me to play my first arc and write my first review tomorrow.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

For my first arc, I just completed "Crime is Art and Art is Crime" by @Twoflower. I ran it on my main character, Spectreblade, a Lv. 50 (+1) Broadsword/Dark Armor/Darkness Mastery Scrapper. I was running at +0/x1 with bosses enabled, so I wasn't really trying to push my limits on the difficulty. I like to keep myself at that level so I can enjoy the stories, and when I want something more challenging, I look to join a team for that.

The one thing I liked a lot in this arc is how there were a lot of atmosphere-building clues that, while not relevant to the main story, really made me feel heroic by finding stuff that helped out other investigations. It really made the setting feel alive.

And the main story was excellent as well. I liked what you did with the president statues as bosses in the final mission. As for difficulty, it was easily soloable, but then again, the only change to my difficulty from the default was to enable bosses. I did notice the Astronaut statue pop MoG, which I could imagine being frustrating for some characters. But other than that, I found them well-balanced.

So, there's my first review for the Architect Club.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

Helps if you post to the correct topic.....
Sorry about that, will now post it in the AE Storyteam


 

Posted

Sorry I haven't run any arcs for January, but I'll get on that very soon.

I've been devoting my CoH time to re-working Shadow of Grime Alley #144416.

I appreciated all of the recent feedback, and I hope the re-worked arc is a more polished experience.

Best regards,


Virtue Server-

MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)

#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)

#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"

#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Interface View Post
To those who have also done "Two Chicks at Once", all you need to do now is complete "Curiouser and Curiouser" to complete the Trilogy Of Moderate Evil and take home a fantastic prize!!*

*disclaimer: there is no prize.
The lack of prize is now MINE!

Ran my level 50 MA/Inv scrapper, Doc Horizon, through Curiouser and Curiouser (said Alice) and with my previous runs of 2 Chicks and Cat:dinner, I have completed the Trilogy.

I liked the previous @Interface arcs, largely for the characterization of Recluse and his Arachnos team as somewhat like a group of Frat Boys. This arc was consistent with that impression.

I was a big fan of the introduction of Tarantula Becky, who had been mentioned before. Great character.

Minor nitpick, mission 1 briefing had recieved, instead of received.

I also thought that there should have been more of a mention in the Malta-heavy mission that Moonbeam Coffee was a Nemesis front. Recluse mentions it as if I had said it during the following mission briefing, and it was news to me.

I checked the clues text and didn't find it, it might have been some incidental text that I had missed from NPCs?

Anyway, I enjoyed running the arc, and the entire trilogy.

Best regards,


Virtue Server-

MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)

#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)

#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"

#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"

 

Posted

Time for Tubbius's Two Arcs of the Month!

First, "The Astral Prison," by @Zaphir, #524278.

While the first mission is a bit trippy and tough to follow, the story very quickly coalesces into one part thriller, one part science-fiction. Well done! 5 stars!

Second, "Terra Mystika: The Nexus," by @Lord of Storms, #514570.

Overall, a pretty solid fantasy-themed arc. The final reveal is simple enough to figure out if the player's been paying attention to the clues all along. I can see it not working as well in a big group with a lot of action; the arc's definitely geared toward solo play. Overall, despite this and despite a few minor typos throughout, good work! 5 stars.


I'm out of signature space! Arcs by Tubbius of Justice are HERE: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=218177

 

Posted

Alrighty, time for January’s arcs. By the way, I do want to acknowledge that I intend to do a replay of Fantastic Foe’s “Shadows of Grime Alley” arc, and I’m also going to take another look at Te Chamelion’s “Small Fears” arc, but I do like to go at least a month before re-playing an arc.

Cat, It’s What’s for Dinner (Arc #530511)
Very funny and entertaining arc. 5 stars.

Commentary along the way…
Aww, I wanted to be Task Force Azzwhuppin’…

(And Recluse needs a description)

…So far, each mission I’m laughing harder than the last. I think I almost choked on my water what Alley Cat rattled off the names of the rest of the Freedom Furlanks. This is pretty dang funny.

In the mission three sendoff, when Von Grun is telling me what happened, he mentions the temporal disruption sent me into ‘this’ timeline where catgirls are the dominant species. I *think* in his explanation, ‘this’ is referring to the mission I *just* came from, and now I’ve returned to the present of the cat universe, instead of my own. It’s just a little unclear if I’m right about that. It *might* help for Von Grun to refer to it as ‘a’ timeline where catgirls are dominant, and mention that I returned to the present in that very same timeline. Definitely a take it or leave it sort of suggestion.

For some odd reason, it felt like ROBO-KITTY should more resemble Luminary than Nightstar. In any case, the humor is still really doing it for me – this is one of the most entertaining arcs I’ve played in a long time.

Aww … Viking Kitty didn’t rez the way Valkyrie does…

The glowie is a bit odd – why would Positron, Synapse, and Aurora still be ‘normal’ in this alternate timeline? Also, it was kind of a shame Ms. Libertail didn’t have any dialog past her openers.

The debrief does refer to her as Ms. Liberty, rather than Libertail.

…There was a *slight* feel that the ‘joke coffers’ were running a bit dry by the last mission; nothing serious, but the first three-forths is so packed with some genuinely funny stuff, that I would encourage you to add tidbits here and there (especially to the last mission) as you think of them.

Overall: Very entertaining arc that’s just chock full of humor that really worked well for me. Highly recommended, especially if you’ve played the Lord Recluse Strike Force. Easily 5 stars.

And for the second arc:

The Clockwork Angel (Arc #534326)
Good story and a lot of potential, but needs tweaking to make it really good (lots of details to follow). 3 stars (felt *just* below where I'd give it 4); didn't rate it in game (as mentioned before, I'm happy to give it 4 stars in game, *or* if the author makes tweaks and'd like me to look at it again *then* rate it, *or* both ... 4 stars for now, but up it to 5 stars after tweaking.)

Running commentary:
Right off the bat… IMO would be best to make the lower levels for the missions more consistent when possible. Not a deal breaker, but the arc looks more polished that way.

Well okay … but what exactly am I testing? Okay … at least that ‘hole’ in what I know is acknowledged, although it’d be a bit better, I think, to actually have her mention what’s in the mission pop-up in her send-off text instead.

Bluebolt Psi Clue (mission one): “Awesome, isn’t it.” Should be “Awesome, it’s it?”

Bluebolt Psi really shouldn’t be an Elite Boss … I’d go as low as making the ‘ally’ version of her a Lieutenant, which isn’t all that far off from a blaster-type hero’s hit points and damage at this level, and will keep her from utterly dominating fights. There was little point for me to even be there. And if, as I suspect, she’s eventually going to get usurped and taken over by the clockwork, it’s not like the idea of her becoming ‘supercharged’ couldn’t explain why she’d become a much higher rank than when fighting alongside me. Besides, the whole setup implies my contact is continually working to improve her capabilities by drawing on combat intelligence from each mission. That provides a perfectly natural explanation for the robot to get stronger in later missions. (Heck, if she’s going to be an ally for more than one mission, you could even start her as a ‘minion’ and upgrade from there to show the effects the ‘improvements’ are having.)

Ah see? And in the debriefing she even refers to Psi needing repairs – but Elite Boss Psi wasn’t even injured in any noticeable way – she was just too powerful.

The last sentence in the mission three briefing needs a rewrite – it doesn’t make sense as is.

Hmm … as explained, it makes it sound like the Clockwork King is just angry that Psi is controlled in the same way that he controls his minions, but I see (potentially) two issues with that:

First, CWK simply being angry about Psi operating on a similar principle to his minions seems a rather weak motivation, IMO. To be honest, I’d explain it more as “when turned on and controlling Bluebolt Psi, the Psionic Amplifier appears to be at least partially interfering with the Clockwork King’s direct control over his minion. He sees this interference as an attempt to “usurp” his throne.”

Also, and other might want to chime in because I might be wrong – but in the early game lore, the Clockwork King is not actively aware it is his psychic abilities that actually control his minions. He’s actually a very gifted engineer who *happens* to be a powerful psychic (I believe) – and as a result, he “thinks” his minions are build on sound robotic principles, and is not consciously aware of the fact that his designs shouldn’t really work, and that he’s actually controlling them psychically. So it’s very likely he’s aware that *something* is interfering with his control over his minions, but isn’t actively aware of exactly what the source of interference is, or *why* it is interfering…

(For the record, though, I have no problem with DATA knowing the King’s secret – at this stage in the game, I can easily buy that DATA agents know what’s really going on, and the King hasn’t quite figured out yet that his army of robots is psychically powered and controlled, rather than actual working robots.)

As a case in point, I actually think that rather than Clockwork King taking direct control over Psi (and literally speaking through her), that her suddenly acting like a normally ‘programmed’ Clockwork minion would be more faithful to how the Clockwork really work. The contact tries to take control and then “*Bzzt* Override Protocol. Fealty re-aligned to Clockwork King.” And then maybe follow ups like “*Bzzzt* Clockwork Angel engaging hero!” … and so on. The King is taking over Bluebolt psychically, but actually believes it is his robots that have located and reprogrammed her, and so his control manifests more like “reprogramming.”

The final mission was straightforward, although it did seem a bit anticlimactic; in a way, it feels kind of like the story is ‘over’ with mission three and mission four is just tying up a loose end. You might consider finding a way to have Bluebolt Psi “survive” mission three, and actually have her as the “Clockwork Angel” bringing the amplifier to the Clockwork King. She’s actually got the amplifier on her person, and defeating her allows me to acquire it. Perhaps even set the mission up so as the Clockwork are rampaging around, you need to “Defeat the three clockwork guardians before the Clockwork Angel arrives on the scene.” And a few optional rescues of heroes and the innocent to give people scouring the outdoor map things to do as they search for the guardians. Even tie patrols to the guardian’s defeats to give the feeling of more and more clockwork arriving on the scene as you progress.

Overall: In general, the missions are straightforward and well done (except, as mentioned, the last one seems anticlimactic and could really use some sprucing up). I like the idea behind the basic plot, but think some rewriting to make it a little more faithful to the game lore can only be an improvement. Toning down any allies isn’t a bad move (as mentioned). And another thing to seriously consider: I noticed a lot of mission details as simple repeats. For example, you only ‘programmed’ one patrol detail for the mission, and set it to have five copies, or something similar. You can really make your arcs and missions more engaging if you take full advantage of the fact missions can have a *lot* of details, and actually make five (for example) separate patrol details, each with slightly different dialog. A lot of MArcers really appreciate those little added touches.

One other thing that I do honestly think is stronger than just a nitpick: the Yamara Clan (or whatever they were) really just doesn’t seem to have any plot-relevant purpose to the story. I have no idea if they’re a cameo of one of your own characters, or what, but I would strongly suggest that either they need to be far more strongly tied into the story, or removed entirely.

Kind of a tough call on how to officially “rate” it. Good basic story, consistent story elements (even if, to some extent, they could be tweaked to match lore better), good mission flow on the upside. Some editing to catch typos and a few grammar errors, overpowered ally, some details that could use tweaking, and a stronger final mission as suggested improvements. My honest feeling is that it is *just* shy of what it’d need for me to give it 4 stars as an “official” rating. Even one improvement (tweak to match lore better, sprucing up the final mission, etc) would be more than enough for me to think of it as least least 4 stars, and, well, I wouldn’t hesitate to give it 5 stars with several of the improvements listed. I’ll leave it unrated in game.


M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice! )
Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)

 

Posted

Thank you for the feedback on my arc.

As for the having the Yamata Clan in the first mission, that was the main complaint that my SG gave when I had them run through it, too. They are, in fact, a cameo of the enemy group I created for one of my other arcs, "The Serpent's Revenge". Though in light of the feedback I've gotten here and from my SG, they were better off staying in their own arc, and rewriting the first mission to remove them is going to be the first change I'll make.

I like the idea of having Psi start out weak, then become more powerful over the course of the arc. When I first created the arc, I erred on the side of not having her get overwhelmed too quickly when the arc is run by a large team, but it seems like most AE arc runners are soloists, which I'll have to keep in mind for future arcs.

When I was writing the arc, figuring out what the Clockwork King and his minions would sound like in this arc was rather difficult. I wasn't sure whether to make them talk like actual robots like they did in early missions, or more like the sycophantic servants they're portrayed as in the Positron TF.

As for the Clockwork King's motivation, I'd remembered an early one-off mission that had him targeting famous scientists out of jealousy, and another where he kidnapped MENSA members to serve as his "court" (I'm not sure if these missions are still in-game, or if they got replaced by the new intro arcs). So my interpretation of him leans more toward that of a spurned outcast who is trying to create a "Clockwork Kingdom" of his own to seek the validation he feels he is being denied by mainstream society. So I thought it would only be natural for him to see Bluebolt Psi as a threat to him. Though the idea that the King himself doesn't know that his minions are psychically controlled is something I haven't heard before, and if that theory is supported by canon, I'll have to tweak the arc to incorporate that as well.

I'd intended for mission three to be what TV Tropes calls a "Player Punch", focusing on Dr. Steinberg's grief over the destruction of her creation at the player's hands and motivating the player for the final mission. But it seems like in doing so, I made for a tough act to follow in that final mission.

I wanted the final mission to feel like a chase scene, with Longbow agents and heroes attempting to slow the Clockwork's advance long enough for the player to catch up to them, but the allowed objectives for the map I chose really weren't cooperating. I'd intended at first to have battles between Clockwork and Longbow throughout the mission, but the map didn't support battles. Then I changed them to Longbow patrols and hoped they'd stumble into Clockwork spawns and start fighting. But when I tested that, a patrol aggro'ed the Paladin, causing him to start summoning an endless stream of Clockwork minions before I even got to it. So I had to settle for bosses flagged as allies for the Longbow spawns. The map also only supported one ally, which was my main character Spectreblade. I was hoping to be able to throw in a few more to give the idea of other heroes who, while they don't know the whole story, still realize that the Clockwork are up to something and are there to help stop it.

I also had a hard time deciding on who the final boss should be. I wanted something that would be more powerful than Bluebolt Psi, and I didn't want to use the Clockwork King himself because he would be defeated in the Synapse TF. I settled on a Paladin. But that just created another problem. Giant Monsters are solo-able by only the most specialized of builds, and even then, such a build would be crippled by exemplaring down. So I made the Paladin an optional objective, but as mentioned, having the final boss be optional makes for an anti-climactic end.

So, I've gotten some food for thought from that review. There are some changes that I'm not yet sure how to proceed with, but there are also some more obvious ones that I can do rather quickly like removing the Yamata Clan.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

And on another note, this month has featured my nephew's first birthday party, followed a mere two days later by the birth of my niece a month premature, and competing in a Magic: the Gathering tournament last weekend.

Between all that, I haven't had as much time in-game as I would've liked. But there's still one more day left in the month, and I hope to be able to get my review done tomorrow.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coulomb2 View Post
Alrighty, time for January’s arcs. By the way, I do want to acknowledge that I intend to do a replay of Fantastic Foe’s “Shadows of Grime Alley” arc, and I’m also going to take another look at Te Chamelion’s “Small Fears” arc, but I do like to go at least a month before re-playing an arc.
I certainly appreciate the return business.

I'll even give you a heads up on a textual error I have to correct (real life has kept me from getting into the game recently, so the error will exist for at elast a few more days.)

Gordon Stacy, in giving some backstory on the Gat, will make some references to the other notable Kings Row detectives, Freitag and Becktrees. Sadly, I call Becktrees "Streebeck", the Dragnet character that he is based on. I'll fix that when I get a chance.

best regards


Virtue Server-

MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)

#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)

#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"

#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"

 

Posted

I have just completed my second arc playthrough of the month. I did "Cat: It's What's For Dinner" on Orochi Dragon, my Lv. 50 (+1) Ninjas/Poison Mastermind.

My first LRSF was still fresh in my mind when I did this arc, and this parody of it was pretty funny, although a lot of the humor relies on being familiar with the SF.

For the record, I did try soloing the Kronos Titan, thinking "Why not?" Then I found out exactly why not. It's a good thing that's optional. The indoor map transitioning to an outdoor map could be confusing for those not familiar with the LRSF, though I'm not sure if there's much that can be done about that.

I also liked the cat versions of the Freedom Phalanx. And while I'm familiar with the term "kawaii" from watching anime, that's something others might not be.

In the last mission, I chose to take out the dimensional inhibitor to return to my own world. While it does make some assuptions about the player and player character that might not apply (like Judgementing the cat in the final mission debriefing, on a character that might or might not be an incarnate), it was a fun arc overall.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

Looking forward to hearing what you have to say on the return playthrough, Coulomb... and, for that matter, what you thought of the first playthrough, given that you didn't review it that time


"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates

MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"

 

Posted

As promised for February, I’m going to take a second look at…

Shadows of Grime Alley (replay, Arc ID#144416, 5 stars)

Commentary along the way:
I must say, right off the bat, the improvements are really helping. It’s obvious effort’s been made to clean up some errors in the text, and the whole thing just feels like it flows better – some of that may be the fact I’m playing it a second time, but I really do think the author’s efforts to put some more polish on the arc are showing.

Oops! After rescuing Sara, I knew there was the body of a dead button man I was supposed to be looking for (but that was optional). So I rescue Mike, and the mission ends. I deliberately search for a bodybag glowie, find it, and exit the mission. Nuts! I’d forgotten there were *probably* two glowies – one triggered to each rescue, and I was just never “clued in” to that second one since rescuing Mike was the last thing I did before mission complete.

It’s actually not a big deal at all – the way everything is written, none of the clues are at all inconsistent if you didn’t find one or both bodies.

Nitpick: I *think* you might want to consider reordering the “Dead body” clues to be near the bottom (?) of the list (in the editor). I’m not totally sure, but I think that’ll shuffle them to appear below the clues Mike and Sara give you, but still above the “end of mission” clue. It’s a very minor ordering thing that, just on a whim, might make the clues seem more organized. Still, that kind of thing is always a crapshoot, especially when dealing with an outdoor map. Thought I’d mention it, but it’s really not a big deal at all (hence, ‘nitpick’).

In the second mission, Verelli’s clue still sounds rather awkward … maybe rewrite to make it a bit clearer: “Verelli believes the Gat from 4 years ago was Wayne Tomason, *not* his murdered father Tommy returned from the grave.” It’d also be better to clarify that “Wayne died a bit later, so Verelli doesn’t know whose acting as ‘The Gat’ this time.” – just kind of clarifies things a bit. Of course, you’d probably need to pare down the first part of the clue somewhat to accommodate the extra text.

(To be fair, the warehouse “end of mission clue” really clears up any ambiguity from Verelli’s clue, so my argument isn’t so much that Verelli’s clue is “bad” so much as a bit of an additional rewrite to further clarify it would still be helpful, albeit a bit tricky with the text limit on in-mission clues.)

You know what else would be a neat addition? A few “flavor clues” of crates of superadine for you to “get off the streets.” Not really directly relevant to the story, but helps to add atmosphere (given that Stacy even says the Family like to store ‘dyne in this warehouse). The clue could even mention that it’s been “quite some time since you were an active part of Paragon’s war on drugs, but it still feels good to remove this stuff from the streets.”

Wow … I’m impressed, the story’s flowing a *lot* better IMO, and seems a lot more polished! Very good job!

Nitpick: In the fourth mission, IMO, I think the explanation behind the “mooks” in the mission is much better, but I do think the mob descriptions are actually a bit *too* explicit about them being Arachnos posing mob goons working for the Gat. Perhaps something more like this (modified to taste, of course):

“This man looks like a common street thug in the Gat’s employ, but something doesn’t seem quite right. His weapons actually seem like the kinds of things Arachnos arms its operatives with… could these guys be Arachnos agents in disguise?”

If you *really* want to impress with attention to detail, for the next mission (after you’ve figured out what’s going on at the end of mission four) you could even create a second “faction” of Gat followers that look just like this one, but have different descriptions making it clear you now know they’re really just disguised Arachnos. (It’s actually pretty easy – you just edit the mobs, alter their descriptions, and save them under a different filename to create a duplicate with a different definition.)

The mission end “pop up” seems a bit confused – the Arachnos ambush at the end really made it seem like I was just defeating a “Gat decoy”, but the “pop up” makes it seem like I still think that was the actual Gat.

Nice touch! The mugger who killed Tompson was a member of the Lost, and is now Riktified – he wants to put an end to the Gat once and for all.

…the Gat-computer actually doesn’t have any text for the “countdown” bar … a shame because the text for the other clickies has been pretty amusing so far…

Likes: The arc has been significantly improved – just about everything has gotten some polish, and it really shows. It’s very clear the author has put in a significant amount of work into tweaking the arc, and the payoff is a much better version of the arc. This time around it felt like the typos and awkward phrasing was kept to a bare minimum, the story elements flowed very well, and made a lot of sense, and the Arachnos angle was inserted into the story in a much more natural way.

The clues along the way – especially the end of mission summaries – were very helpful. The fact that I’d pretty much figured out most of what they were talking about by the time I was reading them was a good indicator that the story was clear and easy to follow, but I still very much appreciated them as confirmation that I *was* following what was happening.

Dislikes: Beyond the nitpicks I mentioned before, a minor inconsistency with an end of mission pop-up, and a few suggestions for way to even further polish the arc, none, really.

Overall: If anything, this arc is now an even better homage to the Batman story, with a dark (and interesting) twist. I enjoyed it in its current form. Five stars.

Next on my agenda is a play and review of Small Fears. While I don’t have time for that today, I plan on working on it tomorrow (if time permits) and also Thursday (for sure).

Although I’m counting it as my second arc for, since Small Fears has a stronger connection to my old Pro Payne project, I intend on posting the review there instead (once it’s ready) – I will post a brief summary here too, though.


M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice! )
Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coulomb2 View Post
As promised for February, I’m going to take a second look at…

Shadows of Grime Alley (replay, Arc ID#144416, 5 stars)
Hooray! Thank you for running it again!

And thanks for the detailed feedback. I like what you describe in regards to the information for the Gat's mooks and gatlings, I think I'll do exactly as you say.

Quote:

Nitpick: I *think* you might want to consider reordering the “Dead body” clues to be near the bottom (?) of the list (in the editor). I’m not totally sure, but I think that’ll shuffle them to appear below the clues Mike and Sara give you, but still above the “end of mission” clue. It’s a very minor ordering thing that, just on a whim, might make the clues seem more organized. Still, that kind of thing is always a crapshoot, especially when dealing with an outdoor map. Thought I’d mention it, but it’s really not a big deal at all (hence, ‘nitpick’).

In the second mission, Verelli’s clue still sounds rather awkward … maybe rewrite to make it a bit clearer: “Verelli believes the Gat from 4 years ago was Wayne Tomason, *not* his murdered father Tommy returned from the grave.” It’d also be better to clarify that “Wayne died a bit later, so Verelli doesn’t know whose acting as ‘The Gat’ this time.” – just kind of clarifies things a bit. Of course, you’d probably need to pare down the first part of the clue somewhat to accommodate the extra text.
I'll be happy to look Virelli's clue over again, I appreciate your thoughts on that. And I'll try to shuffle the clue text.

Quote:

You know what else would be a neat addition? A few “flavor clues” of crates of superadine for you to “get off the streets.” Not really directly relevant to the story, but helps to add atmosphere (given that Stacy even says the Family like to store ‘dyne in this warehouse). The clue could even mention that it’s been “quite some time since you were an active part of Paragon’s war on drugs, but it still feels good to remove this stuff from the streets.”
I really like that idea.

Quote:



The mission end “pop up” seems a bit confused – the Arachnos ambush at the end really made it seem like I was just defeating a “Gat decoy”, but the “pop up” makes it seem like I still think that was the actual Gat.
I'll look that over.

Quote:

Nice touch! The mugger who killed Tompson was a member of the Lost, and is now Riktified – he wants to put an end to the Gat once and for all.
Thanks, I thought a lot about Police Woman's notes on running the arc, especially how the killer of the Thomason couple was never found. I liked working in the original Joe Chill inspired gunman as an element.

Quote:

…the Gat-computer actually doesn’t have any text for the “countdown” bar … a shame because the text for the other clickies has been pretty amusing so far…
You are totally right, I'll work on that.

Quote:

Overall: If anything, this arc is now an even better homage to the Batman story, with a dark (and interesting) twist. I enjoyed it in its current form. Five stars.
Thank you again for running the arc.

Best regards,


Virtue Server-

MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)

#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)

#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"

#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"

 

Posted

Hi Bubba,

Thank you for starting this; in the other forums you have to be nominated by others but that's hard sometimes if you are not in an active SG, etc.

I'll post my list and then look to play at least 2 arcs this weekend.

Thanks again!! MA is such a unique and valuable tool, its great to see the community trying to keep it alive!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubbawheat View Post
I'm rebooting this as a positive influence from the MA Author's community to try and help foster some goodwill during this time of farmers, griefers, and bugs that make it so hard sometimes to give a care about the arcs holed up in the AE building.

The Goal

The goal of this club is to create plays and feedback on arcs that aren't getting played from authors who care about their arcs but aren't getting anything in return.

How to Join

It's simple, play at least two arcs a month and give feedback to the author. That keeps your arc(s) on the playlist. The more you participate, the more of your arcs get put on the list. Members can also nominate good, but not played arcs that they enjoyed to help fill out our list of arcs. You don't have to give detailed feedback, but please post here mentioning which arc(s) you played and briefly share what you thought of it. Also, please check if your arc is broken before posting it here.


Arc: 378122 "Tales of the Terran Space Marines -The Apocalypse Initiative" 5stars!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rgl4...687B0FC89F142C
Arc: 481545 "Twilight of the Gods - The Praetorian conflict"8000+ hits!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxJ6S...848B21E2350DCC

 

Posted

I've finally gotten around to making a few tweaks to "The Clockwork Angel". I've rewritten the first mission to remove the Yamata Clan, because the ninjas from my other AE arc really don't make any sense in an arc about Clockwork. I also downgraded the version of Bluebolt Psi in that mission from Elite Boss to Lieutenant. There might be some more substantial changes in the future, but this patch should remove the arcs most glaring flaw, at least.

Incidentally, another complaint in the review that was posted was some repetitive dialogue. Is there a way for captives to have different dialogue but still count toward the same goal (like, have "save 3 captives" appear in the compass, but have those captives say different things), or would I have to make each of them a separate goal?

Also, I'm about to log into the game to do my arcs for this month. I'll have a review up soon.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

I've just done "The Astral Prison". This review might contain spoilers, so this is a warning.

It starts out with a rather strange mission, but that's to be expected from an arc like this. It does indeed have that "something isn't right" feel about it, though.

In the second mission, the facade of being trapped in another dimension starts to slip and I start getting the full story (that I'm about to be used as a power template for Project: Locke.)

The concept isn't one that can be applied to characters whose powers come from their equipment rather than their biology, though, which my own character happens to be with his possessed armor. This is especially true of the last mission, where I've freed myself from the machine's artificial world and have to fight my way out of the lab, which, in my case, would mean doing so without my armor. But this seems to be one of those things where trying to account for every single corner-case character like mine would probably cause more problems than it would solve.

I also saw that the last mission featured a custom group of Paragon Protectors. Personally, I was expecting to fight canon Crey enemies in the last mission, with a few Paragon Protector bosses thrown in. I'm not sure whether to consider that a good thing or a bad thing, though. I consider the Manticore TF my favorite of the original Freedom Phalanx TF's, mainly because I find Crey to be one of the most interesting groups to fight at that level range due to the variety of enemy types they have. They completely lose this quality at their highest levels, though, where all the minions are just Voltaic and Cryo Tanks. So that's more of a "Your Mileage May Vary" issue.

Nitpicks aside, though, the overall feel of the arc was amazing. It had just the right pacing to make the smooth transition from wondering what was going on, to figuring it out and fighting to stop it.

I'll do my other arc for the month tomorrow. See you then!


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

I need to do a couple of these for February. I'll try to get to 'em tonight, but I have a lot of work to do, so it might be a belated posting here tomorrow night, March 1. I still want to be in this!


I'm out of signature space! Arcs by Tubbius of Justice are HERE: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=218177

 

Posted

The full review is in my Pro Payne thread, but for my second arc for February I did...

Small Fears (#12285, 5 stars)

Summary: Play it! It's great!

Yeah, I know, it's short. But check out the full review if you want more detail...


M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice! )
Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)

 

Posted

For my second February review, I've done "Cracking Skulls". In this arc, instead of my usual character Spectreblade, I instead did this one as Serpent Fist (Lv. 18 Street Justice/Ninjitsu Stalker).

This was an excellent low-level arc. It seems like something that would be right at home as a canon story arc. I really loved the street-level flavor of it. And the first mission really drives home the sense that you're actually helping people.

Since I was playing as a Stalker, a lot of the enemies dropped rather quickly, causing them to spout off several lines of dialogue at once. Though I can't really call that a writing flaw, since I have the same problems when playing canon missions on a Stalker, too.

But really, this is one of the better AE arcs I've played.

Now that I've gotten in my two arcs for the month just in time, I have another arc of my own that I'm looking for some feedback on.

Arc Title: The Serpent's Revenge
Author: @Spectreblade
Arc ID: 403174
Keywords: Ideal for Teams, Custom Characters, Magic
Length: 5 Missions
Morality: Heroic
Description: An up-and-coming young heroine has been targeted for assassination by a band of ninja out for blood. Are you a bad enough dude to save her?

Link to details

I had it tagged as "Ideal for Teams" due to the AV at the end. It should downgrade to an Elite Boss depending on settings, though, and it is playable by all levels.


Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.

 

Posted

I was going to get back into this a couple weeks ago but then I realized we have a bit of a problem...

Last I heard, Bubba is no longer subscribed and can't post in this part of the forum. Someone who feels like taking the reins should start a new thread for the club because right now the playlist is frozen at the last edit Bubba made.


@Doctor Gemini

Arc #271637 - Welcome to M.A.G.I. - An alternative first story arc for magic origin heroes. At Hero Registration you heard the jokes about Azuria always losing things. When she loses the entire M.A.G.I. vault, you are chosen to find it.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doctor_Gemini View Post
I was going to get back into this a couple weeks ago but then I realized we have a bit of a problem...

Last I heard, Bubba is no longer subscribed and can't post in this part of the forum. Someone who feels like taking the reins should start a new thread for the club because right now the playlist is frozen at the last edit Bubba made.
EGAD!

Sorry to hear that the Club's founder is not subscribed. I'm still working through arcs though...


Virtue Server-

MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)

#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)

#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"

#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"

 

Posted

Well, he did say he might come back when I22 releases, if I remember right. If not, and no one else volunteers, I'll restart the thread and keep the lists updated. I might go into AE playing slumps, but since I subscribe in 14 month chunks I'll still be around the boards.


@Doctor Gemini

Arc #271637 - Welcome to M.A.G.I. - An alternative first story arc for magic origin heroes. At Hero Registration you heard the jokes about Azuria always losing things. When she loses the entire M.A.G.I. vault, you are chosen to find it.