Eva Destruction

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Venture View Post
    I did not say they should not be used at all. I only said that filling an arc with them is almost always a sign that there's no actual story involved. (And if necessary I could rewrite my arcs to use no custom mobs. I wouldn't advocate that but it can be done.)
    And if necessary you could strip all the IOs out of your characters and play on Heroic. I could too, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

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    Quote:
    The quality of MA arcs will not improve if the FX budget remains the same either.
    Why not?
    Way to quote out of context. You really think keeping the file size limits the same will stop people from creating "Just a bunch of stuff that happened" stuffed to the gills with custom mobs? You think that in and of itself is going to make people better writers? Those who care enough to strive to improve will do so regardless of the tools they have to work with. Imposing artificial limits won't help anything.

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    How? Custom mobs are not "better gameplay" in any objective sense. In fact, on the whole they're probably a good bit worse. I cannot think of a single custom mob that was any more interesting or fun to fight than anything I've fought in the stock missions, but I can think of lots that were much, much worse (some of which I designed -- c.f. "Psychophage").
    Well-designed custom mobs can be at least as fun as a stock mob. Increasing the file size allows for better design of custom groups for those that are inclined to care. Those that design poor custom mobs will continue to design poor custom mobs regardless.

    Quote:
    The best way to destroy a game (or a piece of software) is to give the player (or user) what he wants instead of what he really needs.
    The best way to destroy a game is to assume the player's needs match your wants.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Venture View Post
    You would be hard-pressed to use all the available space now without using custom mobs. In fact I'm not even sure it's possible.
    I can't recall off the top of my head a single arc I've played that hasn't included a single custom mob. That includes yours.

    Quote:
    Because of that, anyone complaining about runnning out of space has to be complaining they can't use as many custom mobs as they'd like, and that almost certainly means the arc in question is "just a bunch of stuff that happens". The quality of MA arcs will not improve because the FX budget is doubled, and frankly I expect it to degrade.
    The quality of MA arcs will not improve if the FX budget remains the same either. At least, not by your measure of quality. The quality of gameplay in some arcs will improve with a bigger filesize, and many authors will have the flexibility to make a bunch of stuff happen the way they want it to. The wants of the many outweigh the wants of you.
  3. On the other hand some of these custom groups will be more diverse and therefore more fun to fight.

    If you don't need double the file size, don't use it.
  4. I have a lot of little ideas, but nothing big enough to merit a novel.

    I'm also easily distracted by shiny objects.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lazarus View Post
    Looks like you're approaching the right level range for "All Consuming".
    Not really, but I put it on the list for when I reach 20.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ReclusesPhantom View Post
    I know this is wayyyyy off but when you get to around 45-50, my arc The Fall of Rapture (I.D: 299507) might be suitable
    Also, my other two arcs (see sig) might be good. Same level range as The Fall of Rapture.
    I'm pretty much limiting the list to a minimum level of 20 or so for now. 45 is a long way off.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Turgenev View Post
    Just wanted to comment on this: If you read my arc descriptions in the Architect search engine, I build my arcs to be played on "Heroic/Solo" for an effective challenge. Gin'zago, for mission 1, should have spawned as a "Boss" for you if so. I noticed you've submitted your vote, so I'm not challenging that, but if you'd care to give my arc set another go, read the notes I put in the arc description for recommended play level settings.
    An arc should suit a variety of playstyles; players shouldn't have to modify their playstyle to suit the arc. Most are unwilling to do so, and will rate an arc down if it is impossible to complete on a difficulty setting they are comfortable with.
  7. Between my new job, helping judge the MA Player Awards, new Halloween badges and real-life Halloween stuff, Dawnrazor hasn't been logged in for 26 days. But most of that is done with now, so we now return to our regularly scheduled experiment.

    -----

    Simple Times
    #70801

    Work in Progress? After six months and 70 plays, I hope not.

    I am contacted by Talshak the Mystic, who wants me to clear some Minions of Igneous out of a warehouse in Kings Row. My cannon dissonance sense is tingling.... but let's see what's up.

    Fortunately the warehouse isn't too big, because those guys hit hard. One of them talks, and knows my name; I'm hoping Talshak can explain that since Igneous are usually unintelligile unless your name is Sam Wincott, but he doesn't.

    He does do some mystic mumbo jumbo and discovers there's a mystic artifact involved. There's always a mystic artifact involved. Then he sends me off to the Hollows, to fight more Igneous in their natural element. I get a sketch of the amulet to take with me, in case the Igneous have more than one. Actually it is very easy to believe something this small is trouble. Fun fact: half of all magical MacGuffin quests involve jewelry of some kind.

    It's only the second mission, so of course the amulet isn't here, and there's an added complication, since half of all magical MacGuffin quests at this level involve the Hellions in some manner. And half of those mention the Warriors. But now the Skulls are involved, and mystical MacGuffin quests usually don't involve them.

    Oh, right, this is part of a trilogy. Now it actually links up with the first arc. And apparently death is a polygamist. The clue and the description make sense if you played the first arc, but perhaps a mission complete clue could be added to provide more information for those that didn't. The mission return briefing could also use a few tweaks to that effect.

    So off to the last mission, where I save the world for today, and Talshak ties up some loose ends and leaves a few more open for part 3.

    This arc earns the Dawnrazor Multi-parter Partial Seal of Approval for being mostly able to stand on its own. With a few tweaks it would be completely capable of it, while still tying into the larger storyline. Talshak's "When you helped Mirror Spirit defeat the Future Skulls" line is very jarring and unneccessary, since the Skulls are barely involved at that point except for a little bit of foreshadowing. A few dialogue tweaks in the last two missions, and a few extra clues, and this arc could stand on its own quite nicely.

    There is also the question of how the Igneous speak English. A quick scan of ParagonWiki implies that their presence isn't limited to the Hollows, but a bit of expository dialogue to that effect would eliminate the need to look it up. Also, since when do they speak English? If this is canon, again a bit of explanation would be nice, and if it isn't canon a lot of explanation is needed.

    -----
    Dawnrazor is now level 9.5. The third arc in the Future Skulls trilogy will get me to 10 at least, and then I only have three arcs to tide me over until 15. Need moar arcs.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Well, certainly. Though powergaming is more the desire for ever greater challenges, whereas mine is more the desire for ever greater LACK of challenge Granted, a game CAN be too easy, but where one draws the line is a very subjective matter. From reading the forums, it seems like many people prefer the game to be hard to play so that they have to be powerful just to break even, whereas I like the game to be easy to play so that I have to be powerful only to kick *** and chew bubble gum
    I powergame so I can choose my level of challenge. If I want my IOd-out-the-wazoo Scrapper to be challenged, we have these lovely difficulty settings that now go all the way to Just Plain Silly, and if I don't, I can turn it down a bit and run around merrily pwning anything the game chooses to throw at me.
  9. Eva Destruction

    Killing pigs

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake View Post
    ah yes, something little that i like about coh(and CO), at least in the overworld, the bad guys are doing something, vandalism, robbery, meanceing people, doing demonic rituals, the stuff. In almost every other mmo i have played, the enemies just mill about aimlesly. in guild wars i remember some patrols of enemies, but that was generally it. it just seems so lifeless to see these pressing threats just basically hanging out.
    Then you have to be super-careful that one doesn't wander within aggro range while you're fighting another, since that could get you killed. In CoH if that happens, you just pop an insp or two and keep fighting.

    That's another thing...between constant inspiration drops, fast casting times, and fast movement, combat is just so much more dynamic in this game. The only other MMOs I've played are WoW and a little bit of DDO, both of which are very sluggish compared to CoH.

    Oh and then there's vertical movement. I can defeat demon lords but I can't jump over a fallen log? What's up with that?
  10. I'm guessing, if players get versions of Gunslinger powers, with new animations, the new animations might carry over.

    If the powers remain unique to Gunslingers they will probably keep their current animations.

    I hope they do keep their current animations, they are more cowboy, unlike the player animations, which look like somebody designed them after watching a John Woo marathon. Not that this is in any way a bad thing.
  11. /powerSpam: Prevents the specified power from being used within 300 yards of you.

    No more Heal Auras on autofire and no more Quills at Wentworths.
  12. Eva Destruction

    NOT Sour Grapes

    You also have to take into consideration that all of those arcs (Death to Disco, Teen Phalanx, MacGuffin and Astoria in D Minor) have been around since the early days of MA, have been highly publicized, and already had hundreds of plays. Many of us have already played them.

    It would be interesting to see what the official contest and the player contest did for arcs with few plays.
  13. Bubba, I don't think anyone can reasonably expect this contest to be run perfectly. It's the first time anything like this has been attempted, and you can't account for all possibilities. All that considered, it seems to be going pretty well.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Clave_Dark_5 View Post
    I was looking for something that would probably require at least a duo, but I think I might not be so picky at this point (see below), as this the focus of this arc is more the concept/story rather than a MEUBERBOSSIKICKU! sort of button-clicking fest. So Now I'm thinking around "soloable, but not easily soloable". Then again, are the ultra-tough boss arcs popular with teams? Would people who want to pit themselves against a real force of nature like that be all that interested to read the text?
    The two are not mutually exclusive. I run AE content, and read everything, with a character capable of soloing Archvillains and pwning Malta on +2/x8. Most people don't do that however, and making the fight too tough will limit your audience.

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    Taking that into consideration alters the story a tad, but it's nothing I can't work around, so I may leave the ally out then.
    If the ally is part of the story, leave them in. Your OP sounded as if you were considering adding the ally just to help with the AV.

    Quote:
    My concept is something of a re-envisioning/alternate universe of the Clockwork (minions) and the ClockWork King (the AV or EB or whatever). I've only ever fought him once but I recall he was pretty kick-butt, which I seem to recall was due to psi powers. I've been thinking I might even shift from psi to something else ("some form of magic") to avoid that set to keep my version from being too uber, unless that could still work out. And yeah, it would be pretty much a mission or two that lead up to the big fight to stop the AV sort of thing.
    Psi is actually a bit of an equalizer, as many melee powersets are vulnerable to it, and squishies aren't much more vulnerable to it than they are to everything else.

    The CWK's biggest challenge is that he opens with a nuke, before the team has a chance to get debuffs up. If the nuke misses you, you're good.

    Quote:
    So at this point I was thinking to myself "yeah, maybe he doesn't have to be all that uber because my arc would be more about the story than the fight-fest", so you've already got me thinking in a more focused manner here. Still, I'm not adverse to trying to create an arc both fun to read and challenging-fun to fight.
    Simply by making him an AV you are sending the message "this guy is powerful." People don't generally sit around going "well obviously Mother Mayhem is more powerful than Infernal because she kicked my butt and I beat Infernal like a red-headed stepchild." The power level of the AV does not need to be insane to establish him as a threat story-wise.
  15. Note that the way-too-high level AV bug only applies to AVs, it does not apply when they're scaled down to EBs. So a soloer wouldn't have a problem.

    And I think I was level 30 the first time I played it. I definitely didn't have Midnight Grasp yet, and without it Dark Melee is somewhat lacking. Also, I was /Shields and she had Rage. Still managed to beat her, so I think as long as you have SOs and a decent build you should be fine, and if you don't the "there is a tough fight" warnings should warn you away.
  16. Congratulations, Shadow-Rush. This is one of my favorite arcs just for sheer fun value.
  17. First of all, how challenging do you want the arc to be? Do you want it to be doable by someone who solos on +0/x0, or do you want to give a level 50 IOd out the wazoo Scrapper a run for their money? You can't have both, unless you're relying on the Scrapper facing the AV as an AV and not an EB. This is without even bringing teams into the equation.

    Extreme setting is a no, either way. I would suggest Standard, with additional powers hand-picked to suit the AV's concept and get the challenge level you want. Build Up, Aim, Rage, are a no (yes I am extremely biased and would like to see those powers removed from MA entirely) and certain other powers can be problematic; for example, Rise to the Challenge can make an AV that is easy for a /Rad Corruptor very difficult for a Thugs Mastermind. Mezzes can be shrugged off by any melee character but will annihilate squishies. Powersets like Energy Melee are among the least offenders; all they do is hit hard, which is easily mitigated through melee AT secondaries, inspiration use, and kiting.

    Minions set to Hard: That depends on the powersets. Some powersets have powers like Aim, Build Up, Power Sink, mezzes, etc when set to Hard. Avoid those if you must have full xp. If the custom minions aren't going to see much use in the arc, I personally think getting full xp for them is a non-issue, and Standard or Standard+ is fine.

    Allies. I don't find them all that helpful. They don't taunt, which is the big thing, so you can't use them to tank for a squishy. Many melee characters function better with the enemies grouped up, with powers like Invincibility, Against All Odds, and Dark Regeneration, and allies are terrible for causing scatter. Especially if they have knockback powers. An ally with a buffing/debuffing/healing set is probably the most useful, if you can get them to use it.

    Finally, it would probably help if we knew why you were trying to make an "AV arc." Is it a "stop the supervillain's evil plan and beat him up" story? If so, the villain's concept should be your first consideration, and everything else is secondary. People who can't handle an AV will get a big orange warning before they start your arc.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Niviene View Post
    Release Notes for 1600.20091015.5T

    Mission Architect
    • Fixed a bug that could cause freeing captives in timed architect missions to cause the mission to immediately fail.
    We've been complaining on the forums and /bugging this for months, and it finally gets fixed! Yay!

    Should I be thanking Arbiter Kim?
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Khellendrosiic View Post
    Except the Malta Group wants all metahumans under the control of a government that they in turn control. What Praetoria looks like is a government made of metahumans, which is something that would indeed be Malta's worst fear.
    The Malta group views rogue metahumans the way you might view a civilian with a rocket launcher. Superpowers are weapons to them. Nothing more.

    Remember, the Malta group was born of Cold War paranoia, blown way out of proportion, turned into a manifesto and perpetuated even when the initial cause was gone. The Malta group is a bunch of frightened people trying to maintain what they view as order. Supers are just loose cannons, and that's why they're afraid of them.

    Cole's Paragon, from what we've heard of it, looks like it's pretty ordered, and pretty powerful. They don't need Malta to protect themselves from outside threats, so the Malta group would never have started.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Captain_Photon View Post
    In other words, Tyrant is lawful evil and Lord Recluse is neutral evil.
    Recluse is chaotic evil. Or stupid. Or both.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Catwhoorg View Post
    Taking a step out of genre and into Babylon 5.

    How about the character, who was unelected, came into his position through dubious means, and acted without accountability to anyone. Had a secret organization who did his bidding, and were completely willing to die for him.

    The launched a war against an alien race, and smuggled weapons of mass destruction for use against a civilian target (a city) under the guise of peace negotiations.
    I'm not sure the Shadows really had civilians.
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Irresponsible View Post
    Also found this arc impossible to finish with full team of mid to low level toons (Super Sk'ed to 26) because the boss showed up as a +4 AV when the team leader's difficulty was set to +0 and a lot of us were still on TO or DO enhancements. When I later soloed it the final boss was only a +1 EB (which is what my difficulty was set too) and so while very hard was just barely doable for my un-purpled out level 50 PB and I wouldn't want her to be any weaker because of what an enjoyable challenge it was. So I don't know what if anything can be done about this.
    AVs are spawning at weird levels all over, although this is the first time I've heard of one spawning at +4 for a team set to +0. There's nothing the author can do about it.
  21. Ok so people have been wanting whips, people have been asking for whips, and they give them to Masterminds. *Sigh.*

    At least we can finally have dual pistols on an AT that will actually use them.
  22. Eva Destruction

    NOT Sour Grapes

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Witch_Engine View Post
    Actually, by all accounts of friends who were actually at Herocon, they actually made a mention that best faction was one of the most important categories to the devs, so go figure.
    Wait, does that mean that after getting slaughtered by countless enemies with Build Up and Rage and Power Sink and Web Grenade spam and dealing with Extreme AVs at level 20 they might finally realize that the Standard/Hard/Extreme power selections are totally unreasonable and custom critters are totally overpowered for lower levels, capable of insane amounts of debuff stacking especially when the stupid amount of space they take up can limit a faction's diversity, and can annihilate characters that fight Malta on +2/x8 for fun but are still worth less xp?

    Wouldn't that be nice?
  23. Eva Destruction

    NOT Sour Grapes

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Venture View Post
    b) If the devs have two brain cells to rub together, they will walk away from this without a word. Absolutely nothing good will come from explicating the process.
    Nothing good will come of them not explaining themselves either. They chose some controversial arcs with niche appeal. If they wanted to avoid the ****storm that inevitably follows such a decision, they would have chosen differently.
  24. Those 0-star ratings that some griefers were handing out have since been removed. Of course there were plenty who didn't know you could 0-star an arc, and their 1-star votes remain.
  25. Then there's the opposing viewpoint: arcs with low ID numbers were written in the early days of AE, when authors weren't as aware of the tools available to make a good arc. Also, options were fewer. Those high ratings may very well be holdovers from the days when players had lower standards.

    Aside from that, some older arcs with a lot of good ratings haven't been updated in ages.