BeyondReach

I'm not sure whether what I saw was the whole thing...because I had no idea that had anything remotely to do with CoH or Going Rogue. I saw 3 pages. No idea where the "fairly obvious that it's a lead up to Going Rogue" came from XD

Give this a try if you get the chance, it's my submission for the Second Architect Challenge:

Bad Voodoo
Alignment: Villainous
Creator: @Beyond Reach
Level: 5-10
Synopsis: Mr. Bocor is one of the first victims of a group of masked vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, stopping illegal operations and pacifying villains' powers with surprising efficiency. He wants you to strike back at them and reverse whatever they've done to his Voodoun powers.
Enemy Groups: Custom Group, Wyvern, Legacy Chain.
WARNING: Archvillains, Elite Bosses!

Hmmm, I'm not sure Player's Choice stuff will be a good idea seeing as I seriously doubt we'd be able to complete anywhere near all of them in a week. Maybe look at Dev's Choices you haven't done and give those a try (I've done I'm pretty sure none of them btw), as well as PCA winners and nominations. Oh, and we could give my Architect Challenge entry a try, ya know, just a suggestion

This will be my submission:

Bad Voodoo
Alignment: Heroic
Creator: @Beyond Reach
Level: 5-10
Synopsis: Mr. Bocor is one of the first victims of a group of masked vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, stopping illegal operations and pacifying villains' powers with surprising efficiency. He wants you to strike back at them and reverse whatever they've done to his Voodoun powers.
Enemy Groups: Custom Group, Wyvern, Legacy Chain.
WARNING: Archvillains, Elite Bosses!

Here is my proposed arc for entry to Dr. Aeon's Second Architect Challenge, but fortunately as I was able to finish it so early - much, much time spent during a slow weekend on Friday, Saturday and today - I decided to publish it for feedback first, before I enter the finished version.

When I was writing my last arc - which turns out is going to be my second arc I've published since I've come back seeing as I was still doing the final edits when the challenge came up and I decided it could wait - I was thinking: hey, look at The Television being all patriotic, I should really write a villainous arc. I was also thinking: hey, look at all these people complaining that there aren't enough hero groups.

And from those ideas, plus some helpful interference by the Second Challenge narrowing down my subject area, Bad Voodoo was born.

Bad Voodoo
Alignment: Villainous
Creator: @Beyond Reach
Level: 5-10
Synopsis: Mr. Bocor is one of the first victims of a group of masked vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, stopping illegal operations and pacifying villains' powers with surprising efficiency. He wants you to strike back at them and reverse whatever they've done to his Voodoun powers.
Enemy Groups: Custom Group, Wyvern, Legacy Chain.
WARNING: Elite Bosses!

This arc was made in mind of Mr. Bocor's own canon arcs, and was thoroughly constructed with them in mind. Consequently you will obviously find a deal of Legacy Chain and magic artifacts, as is the norm in Senor Bocor's missions. Keep that in mind when playing it. The AE will tell you that it's Very Long, I would disagree. Although it is 5 Missions, those missions maps are: Medium, Medium, Large, Medium, Tiny. And by Tiny, I mean it's a Unique Map which is Tiny. Also one more note: I think you may enjoy it a lot more if you read the info on each of the custom enemies, it will allow you to get the idea of who they are better.

Please, be as ruthless as you choose, I'm not a perfectionist, I'm not looking for all fives, and I'm not looking for tickets, just constructive feedback. Please, I would especially like feedback on the Elite Bosses and Archvillain i.e. are they possible with downsizing solo, if not could an alternative be created where they are possible solo but still present a challenge for team play?

Thanks.

-BR

EDIT: Despite the fact that it still says Archvillains on the actual published arc - I'm not sure why exactly - there are no Archvillains and one Elite Boss that was defeated by a Dominator without Domination. So, I expect you should be able to solo it much easier than those who already have, but I intend to prove that as soon as I get the time to make more than very speedy changes.

UPDATE: I have fixed all of the typos airhead has pointed out to me etc. as well as generally improved the arc from the suggestions I've been given. I intend to test out putting in another EB or two and changing the final enemy to an AV perhaps later today - but that will be on the test server - to try and get it a bit closer to my original design with it still remaining relatively solo-friendly. I also changed the final EB to Electrical Blast/Ice Armor to make him a bit harder, though I may change that back if he becomes an AV.

OMG FLASHBACK

We were discussing something on the old EU forums to do with Going Rogue before I left. I don't know whether this was actually based on fact, but we were talking about Praetoria, as you say, being a single massive zone, but - and this is the thing that suggests to me that it may be based on something we'd been told - the separation of the zones is not made by walls, the thing that stops you from getting into the next zone is how easily you would get killed if you did so. Again, this is a really long time ago, so I can't be certain, but I at least definitely remember that we were discussion something along those lines.

It's not going to be part of the end-game system. Just think about it. You don't become Incarnate. You are Incarnate.

Just make sure that if anyone DOES know, they keep quiet about it to everyone and that includes people who do know. To be honest though, to make this mystery especially awesome, I think no one should know what really happened - they might have an idea - except those directly involved i.e. Priest and his killer etc.

OMG Pious.

Sorry for the annoying acronym, but really don't clarify. Massive conspiracies and uncertainties look this are awesome. It could become part of the history of the Unionverse, no one really knows who killed Priest or how he died, or what really happened there. Things like this create a unique world :P

Just keep your mouth shut and this will forever go down in the history books as one of those unsolvable mysteries XD

I've just come back to the game, so in regards to the game - yes, I am a real alive person, so there are things I do that don't involve the game (despite the fact that I'm surprised how many times I managed to say 'the game' there, you guys have lost so many times) - I am MAing, maybe considering getting my mains up to Level 50 (though unfortunately one of them, the higher level one currently cannot finish his mission because my computer always crashes halfway through for some reason) and also doing some roleplaying/writing for my characters. I have advanced some degree in my storytelling ability since I was list in the game, so my original characters don't seem that interesting anymore in comparison to my new character. Oh, and the one I've reserved for Praetoria so far. Still thinking of more.

So basically, business as usual. Well, no, because my usual business doesn't involve having anything to do with CoX at all, so I suppose I mean that I haven't been transferring/deleting characters - other than my new character who I wasn't happy with the name/appearance, so I re-made him (re-rolled isn't really apt considering there is no randomness, something CoX lacks) - or making...spreadsheets...my god. Have you considered a Microsoft Excel rehabilitation centre?

I'm young, so I still have a lifetime of pain to look forward to, but so far two things stand out. One, getting an apple thrown straight at the genitals. Well, it wasn't aimed in that direction, just I was dodging a bunch of them - children think it's funny to throw hard fruit - and one hit me. I just lay there on the grass for about an hour, came inside, lay there on the sofa another few hours. Eventually I managed to get to the top floor where I was sleeping, no idea how. But the pain stayed in the varying degrees for the next couple of days.

Two, have you ever tried digging your leg with the force it can muster into a cornered table leg, or pressing your ankle up against the wall with equal strength in such an awkward position you're surprised you didn't break it? I have And no, I'm not a masochist, I did not do intentionally, I have epilepsy and it likes to strike at times when it will hurt the most XD

It's such a long time ago, I had forgotten why I left the game last time. But now I remember, it was the fact that for some reason I would randomly crash in this one mission. I'm not sure whether crash is the right technical word, because the game just freezes and then when I C-A-D it tells me that my display driver stopped functioning. It's an ialmrnt.5 if that's any help. But yeah, I've been looking everywhere for solutions with no luck so far, I'm currently downloading some driver updating software while talking to one of my more computer-savvy friends at the same time as I'm posting this. As you can see, I really want to get this fixed.

Oh, and it is one specific mission, because I've played through another mission with a different character and an AE arc on the same character. They didn't crash. But for some reason I don't think it actually has anything to do with the mission, but I'm not really sure. It's a Psimon Omega mission with the objectives: Steal Components, Defeat All Guards. Oh, and I have an inbuilt graphics device/card called Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...44#post2574644

Dr. Aeon has recruited two strike teams to fight against The Television! Damn that megalomaniac! Come, disciples of the square screen, we must unite!

To form the: Super Ultra High-Resolution Satelitte-Upgraded Team Television (SUHRSUTT)!

Come one, come all, you know you want to join a Team whose acronym sounds like someone trying to say "shut up" while they've got a hamster in their mouth!

This is a short story introducing my new villain "The Broken Verse" who will swiftly join the Union universe, unfortunately first, he needs to make a name for himself. And what better place to do that, than on Mercy Island? I present to you the first chapter of No Mercy. Warning, it could be easily described as not PG-13. So if you are 13 or under, don't read on.


“This is a waste of time...waste of time...” A voice that rang as that of a human, and yet had a tone to it that you have never experienced from any other man echoed in the empty, burnt-out warehouse on Mercy Island. A group of figures sat around something that was once a wooden table but had borrowed many of the attributes of the building it rested in; it was decaying with mould, missing several vital parts and had been reduced to lifeless carbon. A lantern sat in the centre, a glass shield protecting anything surrounding it from ignition, but if the flame were to spill over onto the table, it was extremely doubtful it would catch alight, considering it's state. In fact, the lantern was rather useless altogether, as it only barely illuminated small aspects of the appearances of those who surrounded it, although they clearly appeared to know each other.

“Quiet Creed! You know as well as anyone that there was no other option than our meeting.” A gruff deep voice was released from a massive form fitting to it's power.

“Burke, he's got a point, I mean, what the **** is with this ***** little hovel!? For all we know a gang of Snakes could be sitting on the top of this building, listening in!” A soft yet commanding New York accent left the mouth of a dark-skinned, bald man in what appeared to be a police uniform.

“Look, Callum. We can't meet up in any of our usual haunts. We can't trust our own brothers anymore. I have as little idea as you do why people are so attracted to that kid. And as for the Snakes...I hope they are, so they can hear why they should be afraid, and why they should act. Regardless trust isn't something we can put in our allies anymore, not even the sadistic bastards you have on your force.”

“And so we turn to our enemies...” A dry, quiet voice that had a small yet evident note of eastern European but was mostly carried on a southern US accent drifted across the table like a cold breeze. It's holder was a pale-faced young man with light brown hair whose bone structure spoke of death and whose clothes spoke of little more than darkness.

A lighter ignited next to the gaunt young man, presenting a small flame at his side. It slowly expanded beyond it's regular bounds, illuminating another young man with a strong jaw and crew cut red hair. The tattoo of a dragon was clear along the top of his skull and down the back of his neck. He manipulated the ball of flame, seemingly bored. “I can tell you why people are so attracted to that kid. He gives them hope. And for people who either are living into the depths of poverty, oppressed by – let's face it – us, stepping into a program with a man who is known for horribly mutating and often killing his subjects or have just given up on life altogether – I'm looking at you Petrovic - a man who tells them that they can step out of their shell, rise up and make a difference is something that shines so brightly to them, they can barely comprehend it.”

“If I didn't know any better...” whispered the black-garbed young man identified as one of the Petrovic brothers, “I'd say that you sympathise with that idealist piece of trash. You surprised me with your eloquence there FAB, don't disappoint me now with the idea that you believe that this little boy has a hope of success. He'll be cut to piece by Arachnos bullets soon enough.”

“But it's not soon enough, that's why we're here.” Interjected Burke, his powerful voice bringing the group's attention quickly to him. “We can't wait for Arachnos to realise that Solomon is a real threat to their hold over Mercy, because once they intensify their forces here, we're all ruined. Creed will no longer be able to perform his experiments hidden from the eye of Recluse in the ruined streets of Darwin's Landing, I'll probably be executed for avoiding Arachnos taxation and administration, you two,” indicating the Hellion and Skulls leaders, “will have your presence here routed in weeks and it won't take long for Arachnos to get wise to the deals you've made with me and Creed, Lieutenant Callum.”

Suddenly the door burst open and what looked the form of a Snake was forced backwards through the door, followed by a man dressed in a beige and dark red 3-button suit, with thick dark red lines running down the sleeves. In a fraction of a second the previously unharmed Snake froze and dropped with some force, dead on the table. The especially keen-eyed observer would have seen the man procure a hunting knife from up his sleeve and in a paradoxically subtle movement, stab the Snake under the chin with some force, before returning the blade to it's hiding place. Burke and Callum leapt to their feet, both procuring and aiming a firearm at the new arrival, an assault rifle and a handgun respectively. FAB followed suit, standing to attention and splitting the flame in two, wielding one in either hand, ready to strike. Doctor Creed crawled under the table while Petrovic stayed seated, unfazed.

“Who the **** are you!?” Yelled Lieutenant Callum, first to speak.
“Please, this will just take a second...” muttered the man, procuring the hunting knife again and reaching forward towards the corpse of the Snake.
“You don't have a second before I blow your head of.” Declared the commanding voice of Burke. The strange visitor sighed, annoyed, before turning to Callum.
“I should probably tell you before I do this that you were right, there were Snakes on the roof. They're dead now.” Stated the man, maintaining his attitude of boredom with the situation. The Ripper responded with a look of anger and confusion on his face.
“Before you do what?” The stranger didn't respond in words.

He suddenly spit something the eye of the Lieutenant, which simply from the sound the others could tell was beginning to burn. Instinctively Callum shut his other eye and reached up to the injured one with his hand, releasing the tight two-hand grip he had on his weapon. Meanwhile, the strange man retrieved a handkerchief from the front pocket on his blazer, carefully and precisely dabbing at whatever remained of the substance around his mouth. Suddenly, he unleashed a flurry of slashing and stabbing attacks towards the Lieutenant, the speed at which they were executed making the details unclear to the casual observer, as seemed the norm with his attacks. What had occurred was that there was actually a scalpel concealed within the handkerchief he was using to sanitise his mouth, and he had repeatedly stabbed and slashed at the neck of the guard before he could react. A fountain of blood erupted from the Ripper's neck as the murderous stranger cleaned his bloody instrument.

Seeing the Hellion preparing to unleash a blaze of flame, he quickly dashed towards the limp standing corpse of Callum, and as it fell, he used it as a shield to protect himself from the attack. The moment FAB relented the stranger emerged from beneath the corpse with almost inhuman speed and tossed the scalpel in a single fluid, subtle motion guiding it towards the jugular vein of the satanic thug. With the swiftly dying corpse of the Hellion still not collapsed onto the floor, the man casually turned to the remaining living members of the group and said, “now, where were we?”

“Ah yes! I remember, I was about to extract the poison from the venom gland on this creature's neck while it still was full of the creature's vitality. Unfortunately that time is passed, so I suppose I should introduce myself.” Burke stood by and observed this sight with a mixed expression. He didn't appear to be intending to open fire on this visitor – despite the fact that he had murdered two of his potential allies in a matter of seconds – but it was almost as if he was angry that the man assumed he wouldn't. Regardless, he allowed him to speak. Petrovic sat by, his expression had since advanced from utter indifference to mild amusement at the two deaths, while Doctor Creed poked his head above the table.

“You can come to know by the moniker The Broken Verse. I think I should explain my actions before we go any further, so there's no confusion. Lieutenant Callum is a member of the Rogue Isles Police Force, and thus he answers to Arachnos and Lord Recluse. Consequently, regardless of his actions, he would unquestionably sell you to Arachnos in exchange for a pardon for his dealings with you. I'm surprised you would make such an elementary mistake, Mr. Burke. So he had to go. As fpr the one who calls himself Fire and Brimstone, well, before I came here I thought that he would be too volatile a character to work with, and my suspicions were just confirmed, so I eliminated him as well.” Pausing, Verse wandered over to the corpse of the Hellion, ignoring the assault rifle that Burke still carried, on his feet, the sight still following the mysterious attacker. He retrieved his weapon, cleaned it once more and returned to the head of the table.

“I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here, and who I am. Well, I'm a man who wants to help you with your problem. You are here because Jacob Solomon has been forming a people's army to fight against the Arachnos presence here on Mercy Island, unfortunately ignorant of the fact that his actions will only increase this presence. I am offering to dispose of him for you.” In response to this, Petrovic angled his head upwards to look at Verse, but remained silent, a minor smirk fixed upon his face. Burke slowly lowered his weapon, not any less confused.

“And how do you intend to do that? He isn't exactly someone who fights on the front lines.” Burke asked, though not at all cynically, he was asking in a hopeful tone that this individual really did have what it takes to get rid of their menace.
“I thought I demonstrated that. All I'd need to do is meet him face-to-face. If my killing him results in his fanatical followers also killing me right there, well that's some poor fortune. Though I hope to arrange it so that does not occur.” He made it sound so easy, when they knew it would be far from the case. Regardless of that, the three of them just got the gut feeling that he was capable of pulling it off. Burke paused, with a pensive look across his face. After a moment he looked up at Verse.
“What do you want in return?” He was obviously expecting this, his answer sounded as though it had been prepared.
“Nothing, at least not right now. It's a simple agreement between friends. I scratch your back, and somewhere down the line you do the same for me.”

“I'll need nothing that I don't already have to perform the task either. Except, maybe...” He knelt down at the corpse of the Ripper, a thick congealed pool of blood expanding outwards from his neck. He carefully removed the handgun from where it lay beneath his hand and carefully cleaned it with the handkerchief. “I think I might need one of these, at least not to look to out of place.” Even Petrovic frowned at Verse's ignorance of his eccentric appearance. “I don't imagine I will take very long, but this will be the last time you see me before I come looking for my favour. Solomon and I will both disappear into the wind, and your problem will be solved.” The three of them still somewhat shocked by his entrance and actions, remained silent as he left the unstable building, and disappeared into the streets of Darwin's Landing.

If I had to choose a weeknight for it to be on....It would be Wednesday.

I'd imagine that either Arachnos eventually tore itself apart without Recluse's eventual guiding influence, or it was destroyed during the Nuclear/Devouring Earth attacks. Becaue of that, I'd certainly say that those who were drawn to Arachnos would certainly be drawn to the meritocracy of Praetoria rather than the anarchists of the Resistance. And the Fortunatas can expect death or joining the Psychic Friends Network as I imagine those are the only two options afforded to psychics in Praetoria.

We have seen two Resistance member as far as I understand, and they are very steampunk. However, the Freakshow are a lot like Arachnos, they believe in survival of the fittest, and because of that I can't really see Freakshow joining the resistance, unless they were a faction that were basically just blind terrorists. And seeing as the Resistance are actually still around, I doubt that any major part of it would be made up of Freakshow.

Hmmm, yes River that does sound like reasonable idea certainly. I recommend one slight change. Perhaps the first one - or even four - missions be helping Apex attempt to free War Witch from limbo, but you only find out half way through - or near the end - that it would cause a doomsday-type scenario and for this I recommend that while it may cause massive deaths and damage, it not be a real end of the world type scenario, I don't want Apex to be portrayed as hanging on a thread to Villain, but rather very much in the Rogue camp, plus, bringing back War Witch but to a world that's ending...Needless to say really.

Again, I recommend that Apex knew all along - or at least from really early on, perhaps after the first mission, allowing you to see subtle and foreshadowing changes in his character - and to make it more dramatically involved, War Witch is the one who sees the changes in Apex's character and puts the pieces together. Finally, I recommend that Horus is not included at all. Based on the comics, Horus is dead in my opinion. Apex lived, and War Witch said that he would see her again, but I really don't like the idea of randomly bringing Horus back.

Oh, and in keeping with the difficulty in Taskforces etc. I recommend that Apex doesn't actually accompany you on any missions, with a plethora of reasons for doing so that don't include him just telling you were to go; which I don't think is believable in terms of his character.

Of course this is all hypothetical if everyone likes this idea and River is happy with us using it. I just saw the idea and things came out, I can't help it XD

Well not this weekend, but next weekend 6/7th I am indisposed on Saturday. So I can't do Saturday that weekend.

Five minutes XD Well, that was interesting I hope we'll get other chances to win these things, but I'm completely unfamiliar with this whole thing, I just stumbled upon it.