The Architect Sketch Short Commentary

In which Our Protagonist enters the Fantastic World of the Mission Architect, finds Wonders Therein, and Talks Briefly About Them, possibly using Inappropriate Capitalization, that you, Dear Reader, may be Well Informed.

MAIN EVENT

#514570 - "Terra Mystika: The Nexus" by @Lord of Storms
Heroic levels 40-54, Long
Description: "A fellow hero tells you she is from another dimension and asks for help in defending her world. Helping her quickly brings up the question: is there a traitor among her people?"
Summary: It's a wonder that anyone from Mystik Earth would hang around Primal Earth, what with the fact that their insistence on spelling Mystic with a 'k' no doubt earns them far too many "D'awwwh"s from Primals. A nice faction invasion potpourri arc in the Portal Court style (spoiler: other Earths' Portal Corp equivalents aren't any more secure than ours). The last mission refuses to accept that the technical limits of the MA system exist and tries to defy them to give you some choices. Mileage will vary wildly by player as to wether it succeeds, but respect the attempt.

CLASSIC REWIND

#379488 - "Storming Citadel" by @MrCaptainMan
Heroic levels 5-10, Single Mission
Description: "Citadel is in serious trouble! This is a job for Blue Steel - but there's no time for him to get here so you'll have to do. Can you help, hero?"
Summary: Still wins huge points for the sheer "Wait, what?" factor, though your suspension of disbelief may need its hoists reinforced. Plus it's pretty funny and a classic comic book plot.

#204942 - "Chris Jenkins: Attorney At Law" by @Jophiel
Heroic levels 1-14, Single Mission
Description: "Chris Jenkins kidnapped by Hellions? It's up to you to save him!"
Summary: A solid arc involving punching lots of Hellions, and a nod to the fact that in Paragon city, lawyers are never unemployed for long.

#6017 - "Mercytown" by @Frija
Villain levels 1-10, Moderate
Description: "Ancient forces stir within the waters of Mercy, will you be able to defy an underwater cult, steal an aeons lost tome, all the while enduring the inane ramblings of a mad scientist?"
Summary: Ia, ia, Merulina f'thagn. Suffers from the problem of a lot of 2009-2010 villain arcs in that it strongly references the Zig origin. But what are you going to do right? Finds a decent balance between comedy and evil (sometimes the joking makes people seem more evil) and features the Coralax. What's not to like (apart from the getting beaten with spiky coral clubs)?

#378944 - "Too Clever By Half" by @Samuraiko
Villain levels 5-10, Moderate
Description: "Vernon von Grun, in his latest and greatest attempt at mad science, encounters a.... SLIGHT problem. Panic with him! NYA-HA-HA-HA-HA...HELP!"
Summary: It's entirely possible that there is no amount of Von Grun which I would consider too much Von Grun. It does have the standard complaints (it still references the Zig origin, and he does kind of disrespect you sometimes - but you're level 10, what do you expect) but it also answer burning questions about SCIENCE, and nobody can take that away from us. It does unfortunately not feature any bees.

RANDOM SHINY

#489497 - "The pain of the lash." by @SARAH-01
Heroic levels 20-54, Single Mission
Description: "A pair of young heroes find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, and encounter a cross-dimensional plot. Can the players rescue them, and prevent the Praetorians from increasing their ranks?"
Summary: Amusing customs are the highlight here, and somehow the total sparseness of clues makes it actually more amusing. Less is more? The fact that someone runs into a person who looks like them but is kind of a jerk is all we need to conclude that it's Praetorians and start punching. And we are once again correct!

One is bemused! One is but left to but wonder how one is to elicit such musings about one's own meager forays in storytelling.

MAIN EVENT

#529832 - "Rularularian" by @Ankylosaur
Heroic levels 41-54, Long
Description: "Lt. Col Flynn, stationed at Mole Point Charlie, needs your help! One of his expedition teams went through a newly discovered Hortha Vine... and then it closed! Rescue his expedition team and take a journey that explores the origin of the Shadow Shard natives."
Summary: Superbly put together technically, and it uses a trick that should be added to the standard MA author toolkit for any of those maps with multiple sections (if it wasn't already). Lots of allies, but you can (mostly) just ditch them if that's not how you like to roll. It plays with a lot of Rularuu story elements that have seen very little use in game (like a lot of the Shadow Shard really...), and that's fairly fertile ground for exploration. It comes up with an explanation for some Shadow Shard canon (which I'm not entirely sure quite fits) and runs with where it leads. The only problem, really, is the use of 'Mercenaries' as allies. Not that there's anything wrong with them, I just kept mentally retitling them 'Sublicensed Defense Contractors'.

CLASSIC REWIND

#57179 - "Zero Tolerance" by @Ghostmaker
Heroic levels 41-54, Moderate
Description: "The Pocket D, run by DJ Zero, is considered neutral ground. But now, the creatures of the Shadow Shard have started staging attacks on the club! Why are the minions of Rularuu determined to crash the party?"
Summary: Oh snap, Rularuu finally noticed Pocket D! Now where are we going to go for event badges?! It does actually has a point to what's happening beyond that Rularuu demands to consume all the scenery, too. The mechanics are very straightforward, for better or worse, depending on your preference, and Rularuu always provide an interesting challenge. Go. Hunt. Rularuu. Also, you run into Akarist, who is inexplicably curmudgeonly, possibly due to all these kids on his lawn.

#405822 - "Overload" by @Peppercat
Heroic levels 40-50, Long
Description: "A new robot menace sweeps Paragon City! Do you have the skill and intelligence to combat the mechanized mayhem?"
Summary: Really, back in the day we were hoping more of the real City of Heroes arcs would be like this one - plugging neatly into continuity with a supervillain at the end who's not just a boss of Faction X with a unique name. And the only thing stopping this one from plugging in thusly is that it uses the older version of a faction, but that's hardly a problem. It's a portal faction potpourri with a robot stompstravaganza, what's not to like? But beware if you think you're equivalent to a whole ton of heroes, or these robots will pew pew 'til you qq.

#82369 - "Quid Pro Quo" by @Hertz
Villainous levels 40-50, Moderate
Description: "Something for something. That's the golden rule, even in the Rogue Isles. Feel like a villain in this grisly lowbie-friendly level 1 starter mission. Not for the faint of heart."
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin. Let's face it, it seems like every other contact in the Rogue Isles is trying to jerk you around in some manner. Who hasn't relished the thought of doing brutal things to some of them? Well, now you can do brutal things to a guy who tries to short a deal. Brutal, brutal things. If you enjoy brutal things, do we have the arc for you! Also, standard disclaimer for older arcs, strongly references the Zig origin, you know the drill.

#452785 - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by @ZemyaSoldat
Villainous levels 26-30, Single Mission
Description: "Say what you will about the Carnival of Shadows, they certainly know how to have a good time. Unfortunately, a couple of heroes - along with some Wyvern backup - have taken over the warehouse that the Carnival intended to use for their next bash. Looks like it's time for you to take out the trash."
Summary: Is it time? Why is it time? Because the trash needs to be taken out? If we liked doing chores we wouldn't be villains. YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! While it does suffer from the common villain complaint that we're treated a bit like mercenary handypersons, so does almost all of the rest of villain content so we can't really hold it against this one here. And really, who doesn't find themselves looking for an excuse to bust a bunch of Wyvern in the face from time to time and then party with Carnies afterwards? Or was that just me? Say what you want, you get to romp around punching Wyvern and that's never not fun. What could go wrong? (Spoiler alert: the heroes are both controllers.)

MAIN CLASSIC REWIND EVENT

#534314 - "Forsaken People: A Tale of Old Astoria" by @Sparkly Soldier
Heroic levels 20-29, Long
Description: When a district judge and the former deputy mayor both turn up dead, you're enlisted by MAGI seer Azuria to stop a phantasmal killer whose origins lie hidden in both the perpetual mists of Dark Astoria and the shadows of Paragon City's darkest hour.
Summary: This is a great and well-researched arc that you ought to be playing right now, hitting a lot of the plot points of pre I22 Dark Astoria. Though there are some enemies in the later missions that can get a bit frisky if you're not super tough, you didn't really expect to thumb your nose at the Sleeper and not get it bitten off did you? Though, I mean... he IS asleep, so I guess that would have been a fair expectation... Shame about your nose though.(*)

(*) - Friskiness of enemies apparently subject to revision (downwards?) by author in response to critique. Caveat friskitor.

Interesting. Will be watching this!

#452144 - "The Murders in the RWZ Morgue" by @FredrikSvanberg
Heroic levels 35-54, Single Mission, Rikti / Vanguard
Description: "There has been a murder in the Vanguard base and Longbow need your help to catch the killer."
Summary: This is fun, well written and exactly what it says on the tin. It's a murder investigation in the Vanguard base, though it certainly puts almost everyone involved in kind of a bad light. It probably works best solo given that it doesn't make a bit of sense without stopping to read all the clues, and you know how people are. It did require a bit of running back and forth, but the Vanguard base map is pretty small so it's not a big deal.

#379160 - "A Wake for Dead 6" by @Clave Dark 5
Heroic levels 5-15, Long
Description: "Your friendship with the mysterious hero known only as Dead 6 lead a villain to go straight when he lost his superpowers. After a chance encounter, you and he recount your brief contact with Dead 6, perhaps to honor him in a way."
Summary: This arc is in an unusual style for AE arcs which I can only call RETRO-ACTI-VISION, and the meta-narrative is you and a former C-list supervillain talking about a now departed hero you both used to know. If that kind of thing (assumptions about character actions) in an arc makes you a little cranky then this arc will drive you mad as a march hare. But if not, play away, it's a well done low level arc, and not terribly difficult despite the orange "oh noes!" the ever temperamental architect system tries to warn you off with. And it's rated B for Bunny.

#259194 - "Madness + Murder = Bedlam!" by @Swelter
Heroic levels 1-54, Long, Customs / Banished Pantheon
Description: "Experience the mystery of the troll cave! Save hapless psychiatrists from their patients! Rescue a heroine from a fearful fate! Learn the secret of the Tablet of Raving Death! And save Paragon City from an evil madman! Witness the rise & bring about the fall of Baron Bedlam & the Lunatic Fringe!"
Summary: Finally, we are shown an undead threat even more terrifying than a room full of Spectral Daemons or the Banished Pantheon's shenanigans in Astoria... no, it's singing zombies. Terrible singing zombies. This is one of those silly-serious arcs which either work for you or it doesn't, and you probably know by now which of those two boxes you fall into. Fun if groan-inducing at times. The arc's key error is that 1-54 is way too wide a level range, particularly given the exotic mez of some of the Lunatics. Don't bring your lowbies to the party, unless you find debt a laugh riot. Though that would be appropriately insane!

#537898 - "The Sick Rose" by @Clave Dark 5
Villain Levels 35-54, Short, Circle of Thorns
Description: "WARNING! A bit of black/gross-out humor! Written for mercenary-minded villains, you're hired by a ghoul to protect the love of his life, Doc Delilah!"
Summary: This one ranks pretty far out on my weird-o-meter, but it's unusual and well written and hey, it's a story of true love conquering all sanity... I mean obstacles. Yes.

#26811 - "Love is in the Error" by @Witch Engine
Villain Levels 10-14, Short, Customs / Tuatha / Longbow
Description: "Spring is in the air and the birds are chirping. It's a time for romance and courtship. Obviously there's only one thing to do in this situation, help the Kraken find true love in this crazy rough-and-tumble world of ours."
Summary: Quickly wresting control of the "...what in the..." trophy for this week is this classic arc. Some mechanical wonkiness with escorting in the last mission and the customs beating on me like I stole from them (to be fair, I totally did) couldn't conceal the mad genius of this arc.

#1472 - "Hearts on Fire" by @Chyron HR
Heroic levels 5-14, Long, Hellions / Skulls / Custom bosses
Description: "A tale of love and death on the mean streets of Paragon City. (low level arc, contains mature themes.)"
Summary: Get into the spirit of the season by trying to sort out the love problems of a Skull without arresting him first. Soon come to have many reasons to regret your decision not to punch him in the face first thing. If your hero has been way too forgiving and understanding lately, this is just the thing to reawaken those vigilante urges.

#522392 - "Fear Incarnate" by @Solas
Heroic Level 45-50, Moderate
Description: "In order to understand the future, one must understand the past. The would-be and fledgeling Incarnates of Earth have an opportunity to understand just what it is that forges in the fires of godhood."
Commentary: An attempt to articulate Statesman's past, and the reasons he holds back. A lot more compelling than what we actually get in game. Generally very well done, but still marked "work in progress", so there's a couple of unsmoothed edges.

#536430 - "So You Want To Be a God" by @Wonderslug
Villain Level 47-54, Long
Description: "Are you an incarnate, or thinking of becoming one? Curious about vast cosmic power? UniStyxHellCorp understands your terrible thirst for advancement! We can't make you a god, but we know where they keep their stuff. UniStyxHellCorp: A Better Perdition Provider."
Commentary: Let the mercenary villains work for you for a change. Great flavor text and at a stretch you could even take it as an alternate Incarnate unlock - just claim your alpha slot email token at the end of mission 4 and off you go. Special bonus: Akarist still wants these kids to get off his lawn.

#508837 - "Whack a Mole: Lambda Sector" by @Bubbawheat
Neutral Level 50-54, Short, Customoles
Description: "Come one come all! Try your hand at Whack-a-Mole Incarnate Edition. A quick arcade style parody of the Lambda Incarnate trial, plus moles."
Commentary: Do you hate the thought of huge iTrial teams, but wonder what it would be like to raid Lambda Sector? Do you love iTrials and want to relive that first time experience in all its confusing glory? Well then do we have the arc for you. Perhaps the only criticism that's fair to level at this arc is that maybe it captures that "first time on Lambda why are we running around shouldn't we fight all these guys crates what is this I don't even aahhh timer running out noooo" feeling a little too well.

#1396 - "Grim Riddles" by @Mantid
Heroic levels 21-29 (5-10), Moderate
Description: An enigmatic villain has chosen you to play a little game. Can you solve the maniac's riddles in time to save some of Paragon City's finest?
Commentary: It's an old-school "solve the crazy villain's riddles" arc; you'd think that those went out of style with the Riddler, but the classics never die. All the clues involve hunting around on an outdoor map to find the right one before the time runs out, which can be tricky. Best soloed.

#341194 - "Signal:Noise" by @The Cheshire Cat
Heroic levels 20-29, Long
Description: Dark Astoria seems like it's been completely abandoned - as if everyone just got up and left in the middle of whatever they were doing. But there must be SOMEONE still around out there - and they might need your help.
Commentary: This is why you never let anyone go alone to Astoria. Sometimes they go bat-guano crazy. Very light on combat in the first couple of missions but makes up for it in the finale. Nice and insane.

#137269 - "Sea Change" by @Brick the First
Heroic Levels 25-30 (1-15), Long, Coralax, Customs
Description: Your will is not your own. You have been ensnared by the shining blue pendant around your neck, forced to do the bidding of the Coralax. If you cannot break free of their control, all of humanity may pay the price.
Commentary: There's nothing wrong with a good mind-control plotline. (No, wait, they made me say that!) Also, the Coralax only really show up for a brief window red-side, so it's always good to see them getting air time. Solid arc, with a bit of weirdness with one mission that drops the level down to max 15, but what can you do (remember to turn your toggles back on afters!)

#537920 - "The Do-It-Yourself Crime Syndicate Project" by @Twoflower
Villainous levels 1-14, Long
Description: Not every criminal aspires to world domination. Being able to carve a niche out of your favorite city and become the kingpin of its underworld... that carries a lot of perks with it. Territory. Power. Control. If you've got the muscle, it's time to rock this town!
Commentary: Solid low level arc, with lots of bonus minions and the arc contact is a treat. Another good entry in the D-I-Y evil series.

#1152 - "The Doctor Returns" by @FrederikSvanberg
Heroic levels 35-52, Long
Description: The Doctor is back to stop Crey's latest scheme for world domination. Can you help her hack the Mission Architect?
Commentary: The arc that asked the question on everyone's mind - "wait, really? we let Crey put equipment that digitizes people all over the city? Really?" Sadly a couple things in the first mission have been nerfed (in terms of xp) since the arc was first published, and this is not an arc for people without mez protection, but hey. Still fun, and the mission dialog framing is hilarious.

#482914 - "Black as Midnight: Team Spirit (H1)" by @SupaFreak
Heroic levels 50-54, Moderate, Customs
Description: "INTRO MISSION! - NOTE: 1 AV(EB) required. Action & Character Driven. Doable with any AT/level on Standard. Incarnates use higher settings (try +0/x8 for any build/AT). KEYWORDS: Dark Astoria, Midnight Squad, Netherworld"
Commentary: The first mission of the Tips & Tributes series, it deals with the Midnight Squad and all manner of craziness. It certainly feels a bit like jumping into a mission team halfway - there's enemy groups every which way, random guest stars, trivia clues that do shout-outs to other MA arcs... It feels like a random snapshot of a large number of things going on at once. In the style of tips, it's a single mission, but that one mission is crammed full of stuff and things. In fact, I've never seen that many chained objectives and random events put into one AE mission and had it all execute in the proper order (admittedly, maybe I got lucky). The customs are moderately frisky, but Dark Astoria IS an Incarnate zone now. It'd be disappointing if they hadn't been. Be aware that the mission provides 'helpers', who will help make sure that you're kept on your toes by aggroing all the things. Fun and chaotic (chaotically fun?)

#532510 - "Black as Midnight: Ritual Behavior (H2)" by @SupaFreak
Heroic Levels 50-54, Moderate, Customs
Description: "SEQUEL MISSION! - NOTE: 1 AV(EB) required. Action & Character Driven. Doable with any AT/level on Standard. Incarnates use higher settings (try +0/x8 for any build/AT). KEYWORDS: Dark Astoria, Midnight Squad, Netherworld"
Commentary: Black as Midnight: H1 promised a pair of possible sequels, one heroic and one vigilante in orientation, but currently only the hero path is implemented. Once again, tons of guest stars and shout outs, but it didn't work quite as well as H1 due to it being an outdoor map, so objectives were random ordered. Still a solid good time.

#1709 - "The Amulet of J'Gara" by @Lazarus
Heroic Levels 25-30, Long, Some Customs
Description: A pair of Midnighters have disappeared while on a mission to Croatoa. What begins as a rescue leads to an assault on the Midnight Club itself and a battle for your own mind and soul."
Commentary: After First Ward, I'm always a little suspicious of Percy, the arc contact for this mission. I've got my eye on you, boy! This arc does not disappoint, as it leads inevitably to a confrontation on a psychic plane which I totally blame Percy for. Nicely put together.

#500325 - "Nothing to Worry About" by @Apolinus
Heroic Levels 40-54, Long, Customs
Description: The Freedom Phalanx needs your help investigating a strange meteor strike in Atlas Park. Your investigation turns up a lot more than anyone bargained for, and soon the entire dimension of Primal Earth is at stake.
Commentary: Shockingly involves no Shivans whatsoever. Does involve the potential end of the world, and an army of cultists and demonic things. Decently challenging customs and a straightforward evil-punchin' plot, because sometimes you just want to punch evil right in its apocalyptic face.

#341250 - "Zero of the Day" by @Twoflower
Heroic, levels 20-30, Long
Description: "After Seraph Zero gave his life to save the city from certain doom, hundreds attended his funeral, to show thanks for his noble self-sacrifice. But days later, when his memorial statue was raised, why did someone choose to destroy it? Learn the harsh truth behind the glamor of heroic life..."
Commentary: Very polished drama arc, with a bit of meta commentary on the way heroing works in the City and an entertaining mystery about how it all went down.