Eva Destruction

Kill alls in dev content are bad because the devs use them as time-sinks. They stick them on giant maps with nooks and crannies for stuff to get lost in, use patrols that get stuck on stuff, etc, that has caused an aversion to defeat alls in general.

I've never run a defeat-all in a well-designed AE arc that has been annoying, or unjustified. Arcs with poorly done defeat-alls usually have overall gameplay issues that can usually be summed up with "did not test properly."

No no. A blinky hunt on the Dreck map is obviously FAR less annoying than a kill-all on a tiny map consisting of five spawns, and you must never use a kill-all. Logic and careful consideration of gameplay doesn't come into it at all, we must cater to everyone's knee-jerk hatred of kill-alls.

Seriously, you people who dock a star for a kill-all, no matter how justified or un-annoying it is, just do yourselves and the author a favor and skip any arc that has one. Running any arc that contains elements you know you will hate, just so you can dock a star for including those elements, borders on griefing.

No no, you must use the outdoor map used in Ghost Falcon's mission. The Siege map is also acceptable. Either way, it must have the maximum number of allowed patrols. And the enemy group should be DE (if swarms count toward a Defeat All) or something like Psi Clockwork with a ranged preference, flyers, and knockback vulnerability (if swarms don't count).

Never.

Ever.

Ever.

EVER.

EVER.

EV-ER create a mission where you have to kill all the mobs to complete it without choosing your map carefully, choosing your mobs carefully, and testing the mission repeatedly.

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I would of sworn in beta Calvin Scott TF was active. I forget why they removed it but it should be re-added. I also would of sworn Positron said he would bring it back.

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It was removed because Calvin Scott didn't exist in the real world, so there was no way to get the second mission. (or the first mission, but point is, at some point you had to talk to Scott, and his non-existance made it problematic.)

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Why not put Calvin Scott in Oroborous...? That way he can exist just like the other TF contacts in the zone.

-Rachel-

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There's actually no reason for Scott not to be put back in the real world. He's still alive, he's still Aurora's husband, as far as I know. He just wouldn't do anything, unless you started his TF through Ouroboros.

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Other than those, I'm not sure of any major storyarcs that aren't in the Flashback system.

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Major story arcs, no. Minor story arcs, there are many. Most villainside contacts have two arcs, a major one and a minor one, and the minor ones aren't accessible through Flashback.

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Plus, I doubt we'll get any 1 mission arcs added since people would use those, and only those, to farm the Flashback badges.

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They could be flagged to not count, like the badge missions are.

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I wish they would increase the minimums a bit..I made some cool costumes that way and it sucks that I can't change them now that I want to.

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Well as someone who plays on an older computer, I'm glad the devs don't agree with you. Sorry, you took advantage of a bug; not with malicious intent, and not to gain an unfair advantage, but it was a bug nonetheless. So just be glad that the invalid costume pieces weren't simply removed.

Having three in-game TF-style encounters that use this mechanic still doesn't make it a "must." So while it would be nice (because it's always good to have more options) I wouldn't call it a "must have," especially when the MA is missing simple things like "lead an escort to an object" or "find mission door."

The answer is no, and why do you consider it a must? There is only one encounter in Dev-created content with multiple AVs in one spawn, and it is considered poor design by the majority of the playerbase.

What powers does the Malta Archvillain in the Recluse Strike Force have? I vaguely recall him being a Bots/FF Mastermind, is that correct? ParagonWiki doesn't have an entry for him.

Your villain is not a "military" target, since the Rogue Isles aren't at war with anyone. That in and of itself makes the Longbow presence everywhere in CoV except Nerva suspect, if not flat-out illegal. Furthermore, the mayhem maps are full of civilians. Longbow still use their flamethrowers with abandon. The fact that said civilians happen to be invincible is irrelevant, they shouldn't even be bringing flamethrowers to that kind of confrontation.

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Big maps with few objectives and a ton of enemies you have to slog through to get to the joke.

Actually, except for the outdoor map in Act I, those are all small maps.



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The size of the map is less important than what's on it. Mission 3 was a fair-sized map, but it didn't feel "too big," because there was always something new going on. Whereas mission 2 had a bunch of enemies standing around, with some dialogue that I'd already read. Outdoor maps are going to feel big no matter what, but this is alleviated somewhat by being able to just hop around and grab the blinkies.

I guess I just expect faster pacing from a humor arc than I do from a serious one.

Ok I played through this today, funny all around, the dialogue in mission 3 was in fact offensive until I got to the punchline...then it all made sense. I can see why some people might not appreciate it though. And I think the point would still come across fine if you changed the last boss's name to something a bit less trademark-infringy. (At least, I think that was his real name. All my knowledge of the source material comes from parodies of it)

The problem was the gameplay got a bit tedious. Big maps with few objectives and a ton of enemies you have to slog through to get to the joke. Even in mission two, the multiple objectives just repeat the same joke. IMO, the best humor arcs have funny stuff scattered throughout, to reinforce the main joke and keep the player engaged. Tedium kills funny. Mission 3 was well-designed in that regard, the rest tended to drag.

Well I would definitely NOT add any further complications to what is already a tough end fight. Also from a story perspective, the story does set up a rivalry that could become personal for some characters. Adding "help" or "oh, we're after her too" would make the final showdown kinda cheap.

Probably. I had the same problem with a timed mission. The same arc has three other unfailable missions with captives, which work fine. I've had to remove the timer for now.

Or, you could try using a different map, if that's possible for the story. Some maps have issues with front, middle and back placements.

If it's hard to see then you need to work on it some more. This isn't English Lit class. It's a video game. You're not writing War and Peace, you're writing an arc that people will devote maybe an hour to, and you have a very limited amount of space in which to get your point across.

The medium itself caters to a limited attention span. It almost demands it. Nobody's going to spend a week analyzing your story, trying to find a theme. It pretty much has to jump out at the player. I'm not suggesting that you assume the player is stupid, or that you have to spell everything out for them in big red letters, but the point you're trying to get across should be fairly obvious by the time someone has finished the arc.

While I agree that JABOSH isn't necessarily bad if the arc is coherent and fun to play through, I have to ask: If you are not trying to create "literature," then why submit your arc to a reviewer that will treat it as if it is supposed to be "literature," and rate it by those criteria?

You're thinking too literally. Adding battles and patrols that attack each other might not give the level of chaos you're looking for, but it will get the point of "hey, there's a battle going on here" across to the player.

"A series of generic missions" would be best done through the intro dialogue to the final showdown, which would be the actual mission. Otherwise, it gets repetitive. Portraying just one in a series of missions is anti-climatic, whereas being present at the big battle makes your character more involved.

And a clear all on an outdoor map is always a bad idea. Have a few objectives to complete, and add a mission complete pop-up that the remaining enemies have surrendered. Real wars are about objectives, not killing every last soldier.

As far as I know, you can't add them to a custom group, however you can use them for captives, escorts, and the bosses as boss objectives. You can also use them as allies, in which case the player gets the pet control window, which doesn't seem to work.

The prototype for "branching" in CoH has been there for a long time, it's called "be introduced to a new contact." Each option takes your character on a different path, story-wise.

The difference is that 1: each option starts you off on a completely different story arc, instead of giving you different options to resolve a story arc you're already in, and 2: choosing option A doesn't prevent you from pursuing option B in the future.

The patrons were an example of poor design because the choice you made permanently impacted your character's powers, rather than just the storyline. The way it works now, where you choose your patron for story reasons but can choose any power pool, is just fine. Of course the fact that you have to finish an arc before you can get an APP is still annoying.

Yes, that is how you do it. You can put them in the same group. Unfortunately when you go to edit groups, it only shows the display name, not the save name.

Bumping this thread, since I've updated the arc for i15.

Sigh....Just went back to try to see if I can fix the arc, and the description now warns that the arc contains Elite Bosses. It does not.

Edit: Never mind, I am so dumb. The Elite Boss was accidentally added to another group used in the arc. I made him for another arc that I've since abandoned and totally forgot about him.

Don't panic. Your arcs are fine.

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I'm still kind of confused why heroes are launching the missile though. Unless it's assumed that we are launching an payload-less missle into the sea where it will only cause a small ecological disaster instead of the huge catastrophe it would cause if the villains launched it into Paragon City with its payload intact.

[/ QUOTE ]Heroes are launching the warheads into space, where they can later call them down on their desired target... generally always in Paragon City.

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It's been my experience that heroes usually call down the warhead on Grandville, The Deathsta...er Storm Palace, or ancient Rome.

But with all the villains using them on the RSF, Atlas Park should be a smoking crater by now.