BeyondReach

Um, I've never played like that during 2XP Weekends in any game I've played. I've always just enjoyed the game as I usually do - relishing more people to play with more than the double xp - not "farming" or anything of the sort. Heck, I spent Thursday and Friday working on an MA arc XD I don't change my playing style at all.

Mercytown is one of the best arcs out there that isn't Dev's Choice. To be honest, I really want to play The Marconeville Horror to see what makes it better than Mercytown, because I have no idea how it beat it in the Player's Choice awards.

Indeed, when I made those comments I was oblivious to your actual method of reviewing, it was helarious XD I'm afraid my arc offers no opportunities to be funny. Many apologies in advance, but it is dark and humourless.

Here's my arc:

Arc Name: Three (working title)
Arc ID: 382760
Faction: Heroic
Synopsis: 12/9/04. Paragon City suffers still from the Rikti attacks 3 years ago, many remain homeless, cowering from innumerable threats. This is the story of one such individual who lived in the darkest depths of Paragon, and through him how the populace's ignorance almost lead to their destruction.
Estimated Time to Play: Very Long (there is also a great deal of text to be read)
Notes: Read the Still Busy text if you can, I think it adds a great deal to the story. Well, in Missions 1 and 2 at least. After that you can probably leave it if you want. I especially wasn't a big fan of it in Mission 3. Also, because of the sheer volume of text - especially if you find all the optional clues - this may take some time.

I'll get on to playing Two Tickets to Westerly now.

Okiedokie Doctor, played your arc. I think you need to run over it and correct things like no capital letters at the beginning of sentences etc. (you misspelled Peregrine Island in the 1st Mission briefing). Also, full new paragraphs rather than just linebreaks are preferable, but I assume you ran out of space. I have no idea how you fit in so many custom minions, but, although they didn't give me too much trouble (level 26 Mind/Kin Controller) with Holds on Minions, I can easily see them destroying other archetypes. Don't give Minions control sets.

First Mission was alright, apart from the spelling errors, as was the second mission, but in general so far it doesn't feel very "CoX" ya know? Like it could be in an entirely different setting, especially seeing as the only Longbow appearances so far are from people who don't look like they're in Longbow. The coloured text is fine, but would have preferred bold or italics for emphasis, but I'm traditional. This is the second time I think so far he's said "I'll assume the worst", and although when I think about I can see why the planet/world is at stake, it isn't obvious. If it isn't obvious, it sounds a bit overdramatic and cliche.

So I went up against Parkson, and tbh, I'm not sure I understand the justification for being an Elite Boss. Generally, it's a good idea to try and lower the class of your enemies in MA (especially with custom enemies) because there are mostly soloers out there who will play the arc. I died the first time, then came back with a tray full of inspirations, 6 lucks, 4 catch a breaths and 4 respites. I got killed. Usually, an EB and even an AV down to EB won't give me a huge amount of trouble solo if they are balanced right, but this guy had the capability to kill me in two hits, and I was lucky to keep him held with my lucks for so long to get him just below half health. But after dying with a full tray of insps, I surrendered. Even if I was able to keep fighting against this guy valiantly until I am victorious, I still have an Archvillain to deal with. My recommendation is to reduce Parkson to a boss, but not necessarily reduce his powersets if you want him to be an especially tough boss.

For Fathom, I'd leave him as AV because he'll drop down to an EB solo anyway, but I would look at balancing his powersets. This is assuming that Fathom is the AV of course. Overall, you really need to proof-read your arc a lot. I didn't rate it because I didn't finish it, but if I was going to do it I'd give it a 4 because it's not your fault I don't like MA arcs that don't carry the CoH theme well; and just because it doesn't do that, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad arc. But it does need a lot of work, mainly on balancing the custom enemies and fixing all the typos.

Here's my arc:

Arc Name: Three (working title)
Arc ID: 382760
Faction: Heroic
Synopsis: 12/9/04. Paragon City suffers still from the Rikti attacks 3 years ago, many remain homeless, cowering from innumerable threats. This is the story of one such individual who lived in the darkest depths of Paragon, and through him how the populace's ignorance almost lead to their destruction.
Estimated Time to Play: Very Long (there is also a great deal of text to be read)
Notes: Read the Still Busy text if you can, I think it adds a great deal to the story. Well, in Missions 1 and 2 at least. After that you can probably leave it if you want. I especially wasn't a big fan of it in Mission 3. Also, because of the sheer volume of text - especially if you find all the optional clues - this may take some time.

Oh. I'm rather disappointed now. I thought it was a "Laser Crucible of Unforgiving Criticism", but now I see it's just a plain old Crucible of Unforgiving Criticism it seems a bit boring. Ah well, I suppose I should submit my arc regardless I'm looking forward to the unforgiving criticism, [mumble]but it doesn't have lasers...[/mumble]

Arc Name: Look Closer
Arc ID: 382760
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Beyond Reach
Synopsis: 12/9/04. Paragon City suffers still from the Rikti attacks 3 years ago, many remain homeless, cowering from innumerable threats. This is the story of one such individual who lived in the darkest depths of Paragon, and through him how the populace's ignorance almost lead to their destruction.
Estimated Time to Play: Very Long (there is also a great deal of text to be read)
Notes: LOOK CLOSER! Things are far from as simple as they appear. And in your review, please give your opinion on how you felt about the antagonist at the end.

No, I imagine that would be the problem :P Seeing as my ignorance in regard to how the channel system works, I misinterpreted what you said in the first post in regards to "all servers". My mistake!

I find your rules for reviewing an arc overly generous MCM, you really do go the extra mile to make sure that an arc is judged fairly, beyond what other reviewers do. To be honest, I was considerably surprised by your methods. Really, it's pleasant to see someone who will put so much of their time into reviewing an arc so it gets the proper rating it deserves. Here's my arc submission for your review:

Arc Name: Three (working title)
Arc ID: 382760
Faction: Heroic
Synopsis: 12/9/04. Paragon City suffers still from the Rikti attacks 3 years ago, many remain homeless, cowering from innumerable threats. This is the story of one such individual who lived in the darkest depths of Paragon, and through him how the populace's ignorance almost lead to their destruction.
Estimated Time to Play: Very Long (there is also a great deal of text to be read)
Notes: Read the Still Busy text if you can, I think it adds a great deal to the story. Well, in Missions 1 and 2 at least. After that you can probably leave it if you want. I especially wasn't a big fan of it in Mission 3. Also, because of the sheer volume of text - especially if you find all the optional clues - this may take some time.

Copied it word for word without the quotes from the start. It says:

Channel 'MA Arc Finder' does not exist. Would you like to create it?

I've updated the arc after further testing so:

1) I didn't even realise this was the case as I never noticed before in my earlier playthroughs, but I changed the number of HMVs in Mission 2 down to 1.

2) I changed every single custom enemy so their powersets are some combination of Standard/Hard or Hard/Standard to get rid of some nastier abilities like Aim, Build Up, Carrion Creepers etc. I also changed Earth Mother and Earth Progenitor back to Earth Control/Thorny Assault and Plant Control/Earth Assault respectively.

While this will reduce the xp given out, it hopefully won't be to an overwhelming extent. In regards to whether I'm going to open it up to wider levels, if anything, I might reduce it to 5-9 as this arc was designed to be given by Mr. Bocor. And 5-9 is his level range. That might sound crazy, but well, I'm crazy.

I tried joining the channel, it says it doesn't exist :P

Congratulations!

Dear god. The first page and it switches to an entirely different topic.

After shaking hands with the modest heroes, Ataraxis moved away from the booth. He had hoped to get into some closer discussion about the Unity Vigil and the particular heroes' work, but the appearance of the young woman who had made a comment on his name bothered him. There was just something about her appearance and her body language that he found unsavoury. He supposed it might have had something to do with a little background noise from his psychic talent as well, but all those years ago when his psychic talents first emerged the first thing he learnt to do was to train them. He didn't like the ability, and would only be forced to use it in extreme circumstances.

Spotting with some surprise a booth for the Nighthunters, he approached it, uncertain of whether Suraya would recognise him. Despite his desire for a quiet day off, he was not concerned as to whether she would notice who he was or not, he just wanted some company in this crowd of strangers. There were certainly some characters here, and the odd woman from before was just the tip of the iceberg.

He resisted the almost reflexive urge to open his psychic sense over the crowd as he came face to face with Suraya as a small boy moved away. He smiled and offered his hand. "So, the Desert Princess. It's nice to meet you."

Ataraxis took his first step into the bustling hall full of heroes and their fans alike. He breathed a heavy sigh. This would be his job one day. To entertain hordes of savage fans and their numerous wants, some of which he couldn't bare to think about. He didn't envy them. Despite his powers, and his presence on the streets of Skyway City effectively as a hero, he could be described in comparison to many of these paragons of justice as powerless. It was the nature of his ability that it would only grow in power through training, and he had long way to go before he met their standards. Consequently, he didn't dare to come into this hall and stand among them in his hero costume.

"No, today, I'm just Lance. Plain old Lance."

As he walked among the stalls he saw many independent heroes among those of various supergroups. He had been on the lookout for a new group since then, but recently that position had been filled, still, it would probably be a good idea to meet with other heroes, maybe see what they're like when faced with the little people. Ataraxis - or rather Lance - still maintained a rather jovial attitude to the whole thing. This was his day off, and he intended to enjoy it. That was of course, until he spotted the Vanguard booth. He stared towards it with unashamedly contemptuous eyes, and for a moment seemed unaware that he was actually psychically projecting this contempt around him. He was clearly holding back from crushing the notepad and pen that were in his hand. Turning his gaze away with clear spite and distaste, he moved swiftly away from this area, and towards the Unity Vigil area.

His usual unshakeable calmness regained, he slipped carefully through the crowds to the front and showed his face to the group of heroes, assessing them each individually. Waiting for 'Rushmore' and 'Cauter' to finish their posing, he approached them casually and offered his hand. "Dr. Lance Baleman, pleased to meet you both. I'm sure you get this a lot, but I just want to thank you and all your kind from the bottom of my heart for keeping my colleagues at the Skyway City General Hospital from being completely overwhelmed." Ataraxis supposed that he said this partly because he hoped one day someone might say this to him too, not that it would make any difference to bring the balance that he would one day throw off the scales. Just that it would give him that little boost to keep going. God knows he needed those these days.

The problem isn't fixing it anymore. I have fixed it multiple times but it persists in breaking itself over and over.

I can't find the link, but I'm fairly certain that one of the rednames said that the game would be available for pre-order on March 2nd, allowing you to get Dual Pistols for the 2XP Weekend starting March 4th.