"Awake, Arise, or Be Forever Fall'n": playtesters requested for arc based on Paradise Lost

So, I'm starting to get close to completion on this arc, in which you take the side of Lucifer Morningstar against the Throne of Heaven, roughly based around the sympathetic portrayal of Lucifer from Milton's Paradise Lost. I've accompanied a few groups of playtesters, but I need a lot more to be able to finish this off, and it's extremely hard to find people willing to do so in-game. I'm hoping some folks here can help.

A few notes, first.

(1) This is not a superhero-themed arc, and I'm less concerned about gameplay than I am the feel, mood, and style. I've had several playtesters complain because they felt this arc doesn't feel superheroic. For example, one playtester was quite firm that there are "too many varieties of angels," and that I should use "Crey style" conventions of similar appearance. This is not going to happen. I spent a lot of time doing research on the Heavenly Host to make their appearances and powers as authentic as possible, and ended up using the medieval theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite as my primary source for the Host, with Kabbalic lore as my source for most of the individual angelic lords. This was my inspiration for creating the arc in the first place, so this, at least, is not going to change.

(2) There are no NPC bios or chatter yet, because I'm going to be very close to the file size limit, and I have to know how much space I have left before I can determine how much text I can afford to allot to each.

(3) I'm not entirely sure about the first map. I'm using Oranbega, Baron Zoria's Lair, right now, and while the mood is right for Sheol (think along the lines of the Greek underworld), it's too large and every group of playtesters so far has found it dull. Combined with the fact that I restrict the enemies you face to the least powerful angels (the Third Circle of the Host), there's not a lot of variety and I'm concerned that people may lose interest in the arc before they've bothered to experience the later levels with a lot more challenge and variety.

(4) With the exception of the first level and the last level, everything else has large, open spaces for the angels to fly. This is by design. My conception for combat involves large flocks of angels wheeling overhead, players and angels swooping through the sky at each other, dogfighting. Some of the playtesters have complained that all these flying enemies in open areas are irritating and should be removed. That's not going to happen, since it's been made this way intentionally.

(5) Playtesters complained that "bosses" were hard to spot amongst all the varicoloured angelic hordes, so now they all do a fire cast animation to make them very visible, and their followers all do a karate kneel.

(6) I'm having a lot of trouble adjusting the challenge level, and I'm worried that the self-selecting playtester sample may be skewing results. My playtesters all tend to be bored, level 50+4 players with a lot of experience. They've complained about the lack of challenge, so I've kept slowly increasing enemy numbers and difficulty. A group of level 44 playtesters were chewed up and spit out by the very first level, which makes me worried that I may have gone too far in accomodating power-players.

(7) Right now, I have missions set up so that you need to defeat 3 bosses, then recover 3 artifacts which spawn when their associated boss is defeated. I've noticed that (particularly on the first map), time spent hunting artifacts is boring and anticlimactic. I'm considering eliminating the separate artifacts and just using a clue stating that the player recovered the artifact on defeat of the boss. My only hesitation is that I'm worried people won't even notice, making the goal of the maps puzzling, and ruining the immersion. Advice on this is appreciated.

(8) If you playtest this arc, please make sure you have at least four players (or set yourself to x4) so that all the bosses come out to play. Also, make sure you have AVs turned on, or the final battle in the throne room of YHWH is not going to be very challenging.

(9) Please feel free to criticize anything and everything. I have a thick skin, and I am genuinely grateful for people who can help me improve something into which I've sunk a lot of time and effort. Just be aware that I may not agree with some recommendations (particularly those involving style and feel), and if I don't adopt your particular concerns, no offence is meant, and I am still hugely grateful for your input.

(10) I am already aware that the word "Raziel" from the book Sefer Raziel HaMalakh is misspelled in several places. I had no choice, since the wise, prudent people at NCSoft have declared the word "Raziel" to be copyrighted. Never mind that the name is 4000 years old and that the copyright would be the property of some Bronze Age middle-eastern sheep-herding barbarian. Raziel himself is renamed to Galidur, one of the alternative names provided by the literature. Unfortunately, his book, the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, contains the word "Raziel" in all its alternative variations.

(11) Some players have complained that the angelic lords (like Michael) don't look impressive enough. Please let me know if you feel the angelic Host isn't, well, sufficiently angelic. I'm also well aware that angels don't have gender, and that they should look androgynous. Sadly, the game doesn't really permit for this. As a result I've assigned gender based on personal opinion (and in some cases, like the female Gabriel, along the lines of some post-modern reinterpretations). For the sake of appearance, I've also left out some defensive sets; ice, dark, and stone change the appearance so greatly that it rendered their angelic appearance moot, so I've replaced all these sets with less visually disruptive sets.

(12) I guess I should also add that some strange synchronicities have been happening since I started work on this arc. For example, one day I was working on the angel Sandalphon and asked for some assistance with the AE editor on the Help channel. A player named Sandalphon answered me. For another example, when I hit "save" on the Holy Spirit for the first time (which is depicted historically as a bird, and in my arc with a bird's head and feet), CoX produced a very loud, surprising, and inexplicable bird-screeching sound effect -- while I was inside the AE studio. My arc is as close as I could make it to theological and mythological accuracy, and we're dealing with some very powerful archetypes. Whether or not you believe in the so-called "supernatural," powerful archetypes have a very strong and well-documented effect on the human psyche through the collective unconscious. I mention all of this as fair warning for anyone who is prepared to assist in the making of this arc, just for the sake of my own conscience.

Arc # is 537993 and the name is "Awake, Arise, or Be Forever Fall'n." My in-game name is @NoJusticeNoPeace and I'm most usually playing as Grimstalk on Virtue. I have characters on both Virtue and Union, and if I'm around when you playtest, I'd appreciate being allowed to tag along and observe.

This sounds awfully ambitious.

It might contain one of my personal hates (i.e. custom mobs) but I'll give it a spin when I can think of a suitable character for the task.

I tried it.

The first elite boss took about five minutes to whittle down. Slow and dull but it's my fault for playing a tanker.

The second elite boss used confuse and psychic damage. I couldn't attack them and they could actually hurt me, so I quit before I was defeated. I didn't feel like burning a bunch of large inspirations just to get breakfrees for this adventure, which honestly seemed not quite finished.

You said you have a lot of text in the arc? You should probably put some of that text in the description of the custom enemies because everyone is not going to be well versed in the difference between various types of angels. I didn't see much text at all in my admittedly brief journey. Are there that many customs in the arc that you're already running out of space?

I'll get back to the arc when it's more complete, I think.

First, thanks very much for making the attempt.

I did mention in my posting in item (2) that there are no bios or NPC chatter yet because I need to know how much space I'll have left to allot to each. That will be the last thing I do when everything else is finalized, because I'll be using up every last byte.

In answer to your question, there are seven types of angels on each of the first three levels (777 being significant in that the numbers 3 and 7 have mythological and archetypal connections to YHWH), as well as 3 unique EBs on each. That makes a total of 21 non-uniques, and 9 uniques. In addition, there's a hidden, unique NPC ally available in the second map. The last map has 2 unique EBs and a unique AV, for a grand total of 34 custom NPCs + the contact, Lucifer.

I didn't intend for this arc to be soloable (although I think it may be possible with the right high-level build), and mention as much right in the arc description: that it's intended for high-level groups of heroes/villains. I've deliberately given the bosses wide varieties of abilities so that it should require cooperation to take them down. Playtesting has shown that three seems to be an acceptable number.

You're right that this arc isn't finished. I tried to indicate as much in my original posting, but I apologize for not being clear. I will be clear here: This arc is not in a state of completion. The bios and NPC chatter are missing, and I've not yet settled firmly on the maps which are currently in use. The very reason I'm asking for playtesters is to get the feedback I need to finish the arc.

Again, for others, I want to reiterate that this is not a finished and polished story arc. It's playable, but it's going to require more work. I need your assistance to get it finished and polished.