Less than impressed...

One of things I've been looking forward to as part of the i21 release are the Signature Story Arcs. However after actually trying them I'm far from impressed. Yes the so far unique maps might be great, the overall concept may be earth shatteringly amazing but why oh why do I have to be exemplared down to level 20 to experience it?

I can understand not wanting to trivialise this content so exemping me down a bit I could understand (or hell just making Incarnate powers not function) but by pushing me so far down my characters with few exceptions are gimped. Losing damaging powers, knock back protection and pets is non-trivial too and it makes the arc annoying rather than fun.

I just hope that the subsequent arcs aren't for such low level characters. Oh yeah and bearing in mind that Sutter at least boosts the powers of lowbies, there is nothing stopping that being used to artificially level 20s up to say 40, which IMO would result in a far better experience for everyone.

At a guess to try and match the number of new characters that would be floating about after an Issue Release, and so it's more enticing for all the F2P and Premium Players to try out.

The entire issue seems devoted to giving the lower half of the game new things to do, so thematically it fits.

I'd guess that future chapters will up the level range until the last is 40 or 45 to 50.


I was quite happy to have a character which suited the arc and the arcs enemies, I wouldn't fancy fighting Malta or Knives or whatever even before I'd gotten my grubby little mitts on SOs.

This bothered me as well. Why the heck do I need to be EX'd down when the life of one of the greatest is on the line?

Secondly, why does my level matter that much? It feels like the arc is shoehorning me into not being as powerful as I normally am -- which ******* sucks in a game like this -- just so I don't whizz past the story or some other speed-related garbage.

Can we get an explanation as to why this arc shaves off 90% of your power?

Don't build your characters to function only at 50. Problem solved.

I always find it funny when people "complain" a bit too much about getting exemplared down for anything. To each their own and all that, but it's hardly the end of the world.

That being said I could easily see where the level range of this Signature Story Arc will likely be increased over time. This arc itself is a seven parter so I have no problem at all with the first parts being relatively low level and then have them work up to being like level 45-50 for the last one (like Carnifax_NA said).

Either way it's not that big a deal...

I really can't see a problem with it being lvl 20. Are you suggesting that you can only be a hero once you achieve lvl 50?

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Level doesn't exist outside of an abstracted game mechanic. One of the few things I like about the new tutorial is that signature characters are in it, fighting the same things you are. You are just as powerful as them at level 1.

Plus the arc is obviously designed as 7 mini-arcs covering a range of levels. This game isn't designed for level 50s. Its designed for the journey to 50.

This part 1 of the arc was Synapse's...
Next is Numina.
So I guess it will be exemplared to the lvl of the hero?
Just speculation.

I gotta say I was hoping for more spotlight of the hero in question.
We barely get to see Synapse in the arc... To new players, I dont see them giving a damn about who is dying because we got 0 interaction with the signature hero.

In my opinion it is good to take your character back down to the lower levels. With careful timing of when you take powers and managing your important set bonuses you can create characters that are quite powerful at any level. I find it a challenge to build a character that can level down and not feel gimped.

A level 50 going down to 20 is always going to be way more powerful then that same character was when leveling up to 20 since have 2 additonal powers (level 22 and 24), more enhancement bonuses (even with the gimping they do), set bonuses (not many at 20 but purples and low level set bonuses will be there), and procs (these function at any level if the power is on).

Now you do have to adjust your difficulty settings a little, if you try to run +4/x8 at level 20 you probably won't like it very much

I'd really like to see in the future arcs, more expansion of the level ranges. Sutter gave the Sky Raiders ten more levels, with the powers to match. I realize that, in story, that doesn't work for the Lost, and I can't accept that, but it'd be nice if the consideration were made for the future arcs.

Eh, the power difference between a level 20, and a level 50 is oh... 10 powers. Due to the way Exemplaring works, you keep up to your level 24 power, and you keep all your slots that go into any powers from level 24 and below.

As a level 50 has access to 24 powers, your really only losing 42% of your powers. Keeping all your slots, and all your enhancement values (which with most sets, is still more then what you would have at level 20) means that your MUCH more powerful then you would've been at level 20.

Exemplaring isn't the end of the world, and even if your builds run better at level 50, with your alpha boosts, and incarnate powers, at level 20 you shouldn't have that many toggles, or extra powers sucking up endurance so its really not that bad.