Eva Destruction

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There are a lot of very good missions to run in MA. The problem is that they tend to get buried behind hundreds of pages of farms and crap.

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You keep telling yourself that. No one would play the "good" mishs if they took all teh "crap" out, because without the "crap" no one would ever be in AE.



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Without the "crap" the people whose presence in AE doesn't help us wouldn't be in AE. By "us" I mean the people who are interested in writing and playing actual story arcs. The people who play the crap don't play our stuff anyway. All they do is make it so I can't go to Cap on Freedom without my comp seizing up. They won't be playing my arc, they won't be playing any arc I would actually be interested in playing, they can leave the AE and never come back for all I care.

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I'm surprised more hasn't been said about griefing. There is a lot of that going on, particularly once you've had several 5 star votes. I'd suggest looking at the fact you're getting primarily 5s and write the rest off to either someone that has really unusual standards, or to griefers.



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There are also those people who simply have different tastes than your 5-star fanclub. I've played quite a few arcs that have received rave reviews from various sources, some I loved, some I didn't care for. You're not going to please everyone, even if you leave griefers, people with very exacting standards and the "I couldn't solo this with my level 10 FF defender, 1 star" club out of the equation.

Lately I've started deliberately searching out villainous arcs for my villains. The pickings are rather slim. I think heroes are just easier to write for. I know I personally have been banging my head off my villain arc for weeks.

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I can't imagine what that way might even be, unless I stumble upon another crippling AI quirk. I'm certainly going to keep looking, as I like Crimson and his mission-arcs, and maybe bringing up a Blaster that isn't Lethal or Energy damage might help. But really, they're just irredeemably tough. Vanguard are nasty, but only if you let them come close, which means at least you can play keepaway. Malta used to be nasty unless you keep close to them, which is no longer the case. The Vahzilok of the lower levels are tough but stupid and can be separated and fought individually, plus they have a SERIOUS weakness to lethal damage.

I'd love to find an approach that doesn't rely on lots and lots of inspirations, I just can't imagine what that might be.

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Oh, you're using Lethal damage. Then yeah, your Blaster just sucks against Malta. I feel your pain. I don't recall them having any particular resistance to energy damage though...except the Titans, who resist everything.

Did I read that right? Energy Assault no longer requires Total Focus for bosses?

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Blasters were playable before the Defiance changes, too. It sure as hell wasn't fun, though.

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Maybe your problem isn't Malta, maybe it's the AT. I found Blasters perfectly fine with the old Defiance I never used. Now they're easy mode.

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I fought Malta a few weeks ago and all I can say is, we need more mobs like this. It felt great actually fighting something that's challenging.

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The problem is that it's challenging for something like a power-built Scrapper, and that's a really bad base level of performance to go by. I started this thread when I fought Malta with my Broadsword/Invulnerability Scrapper, and their increase in difficulty was only token. More damage, less damage, it's all the same in the end, as there's little that can scare an upper 40s Scrapper. That's what they were built to combat, in fact.

But then the problem is that that's not all we play. Hero-side, Scrappers and Blasters are all I can play. Tankers are too slow, Defenders too weak and Controllers too late-blooming. Scrappers have precious little problem with anything and despite years of the developers trying to one-up us, that hasn't change. All that HAS happened, however, is that everyone who isn't a Scrapper or, per chance, a Tanker, has gotten shafted by the effort. My Blasters, first and foremost, suffer BAD from all of those "challenging" enemies, because they don't have Scrapper defences and only just about above-Scrapper damage. That's why I mind "challenging" things - they just mean my Blasters need not apply.

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If you don't have a mez power from your primary or secondary, choose an APP that has one. Avoid playing on challenge level 2 or 4. Make sure you have plenty of inspirations for the boss fights. And be careful.

They are doable with Blasters. I've fought Malta on Invincible with my AR/Fire, which is possibly the worst combo to fight them with, and I've done ok. I maintain that we need the challenge. My Blasters tear through just about everything else in the 40s. Malta, Rularuu and Vanguard are the only things that aren't easy mode.

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I'm reminded of that Shoryuken animation... How did that work, again?

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In early I10, Granite Armor removed your weapons even when drawn. Stone/Dual Blades performing Vengeful Strike in Granite Armor.

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Granite armor with your graphics turned down used to be invisible unless you got really close. So there would be just a floating axe and a pair of poop boots running in front of you.

NordBlast and Hejtmane, you do realize that the OP is likely referring to the EB versions of the Praetorians right?

Yeah, I've done them all with blasters on diff 4, using lots of inspirations, but that's what inspirations are for. Dominatrix is bad for squishies, just because she takes so long to die that your breakfrees run out. Diabolique is annoying to anyone. Bobcat and Marauder can be problematic because of Unstoppable, Neuron for the end drain.

As far as AVs go though, most of the Praetorians are on the easy side. So if you add an AV warning to your description, I doubt that anyone who can take on AVs will be stalled by one of these guys.

Rularuu are worse than Malta mostly because you pretty much have to go out of your way to fight them. Malta are all over the place, so people are forced to figure out strategies to deal with them. Whereas Rularuu...you avoid them, avoid them, then finally go do a Shard TF and it's ZOMG OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH....Splat.

I think they're awesome. People need a rude awakening once in a while. Plus, they're totally creepy.

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Hitting it with a boat will make it blink. Then you have to poke it in the eye to make it go back to sleep again.

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Eff that noise.

If an island blinks at me, I'm getting the heck out of dodge. Nuts to the rest of you, I sez.

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Yeah but you get a badge and some merits for poking it in the eye.

Does it actually say anywhere that it's a space-shark? Callystix summoned it, and generally that means extra-dimensional....or maybe an aspect of Merulina?

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The best animation bug ever was the Freakshow bosses with no arms.

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no, that was just the funniest.

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"It's only a flesh wound!"

Then there was the invisible scenery bug, which made the final mission of the Freakalympics very amusing.

Hitting it with a boat will make it blink. Then you have to poke it in the eye to make it go back to sleep again.

The space squid, er shark, won't wake up until the stars align right. Then it's DOOOOOOMMMM on a massive scale.

Also, Prof_Backfire your avatar is hypnotic.

I have two arcs in progress right now, that I'm trying to work on as much as possible before i15, a third arc that really needs the "custom" power pick option to even get off the ground, since it's going to be a "challenge/story" arc, and at least two more in the "solidifying idea" stage.

I have one arc slot available (currently filled with a cheap meta-joke that I'm not at all attached to).

The best animation bug ever was the Freakshow bosses with no arms.

Well, I just did a major update to my mid-level arc:

The Second Coming of the Mega Mech (122274)

It's level 25-32, I just ripped out the AVs, there is one EB who hits fairly hard but definitely should be soloable by a Scrapper. The custom enemies are a bit tougher than the standard mobs, but not by much, no exotic damage types, debuffs or heavy mezzing.

Some Striga questions:

Where is it geographically?

Did the Council base belong to the 5th before the Council took over, or was it all built after the takeover? Or was it a Council base that the 5th didn't know about?

Did Burkholder start working on the giant robot when he was still with the 5th? How long has the factory in Mt. Richardson been there?

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Well OBVIOUSLY the pets are smarter than their boss and know who to back.

"Uh, boss, I don't think we should be fighting this guy...."
"Shut up and do as you're told, minion!"
"It's just that, he's probably gonna kick your butt, and then we'll go down with you, and..."
"Nobody asked you! Attack!"
"Ok, that's it, we quit."

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That would make a good "defeated boss clue" in the right arc.

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You know what... I think this would be doable. Thanks guys.

I'm still disappointed that it's not much of a fight.

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Give him an attack secondary with lots of knockback, or a rain power or something else that causes scatter. That should keep the pets out of most of the fight.

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Yeah, but will that really make sense to the person playing the arc? They're supposed to be loyal minions. Think if it were robots: they can't reason, they just do as their told, but they'd still fight their mastermind.

I also want the fight to be a little more than a total own-fest. Right now it's "I'll show you who needs rescuing! I'm gonna-" dead.

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It totally doesn't make sense. I just thought it was a hilarious bug. You're right, for someone trying to make a serious arc, this bug sucks, and I wish I had something helpful to offer.

Set the max number of boss and rescue spawns, set the spawn difficulty to "hard." If possible, choose a map where all the standard spawn points are replaced by boss spawns.

As far as having more join, you can set some of the bosses to trigger ambushes, maybe at 1/4 health so most of their minions are still alive. You are limited as to the number of ambushes a mission is allowed to have however.

Patrols will also add enemies that can wander in and attack you.

Well OBVIOUSLY the pets are smarter than their boss and know who to back.

"Uh, boss, I don't think we should be fighting this guy...."
"Shut up and do as you're told, minion!"
"It's just that, he's probably gonna kick your butt, and then we'll go down with you, and..."
"Nobody asked you! Attack!"
"Ok, that's it, we quit."

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In the meantime, I'd be happy with them using 'dialogue branch' tech to make Contacts and other NPCs speak to me with fear and respect in their attitudes based on what badges I have or something.

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Forget dialogue branching. How about having all the contacts and NPCs speak to you with respect at higher levels? And those of them that aren't powered should fear you as well.

That, in and of itself, is a form of winning. You have made a reputation for yourself. People don't want to mess with you, because you are dangerous.

Edit: Just thought of a place where your badge idea should definitely be implemented. After you complete your patron arc, the other patrons should stop treating you like a nobody and start treating you like a potential rival. And when you get Usurper, they should start treating you as a definite rival, since you just walked into the room with the boss's head on a pike.

I'm pretty sure that if you set something to rogue it'll fight its own faction. So your rogue patrols will fight each other.

Sorry, no.

Play around with maps, and try to find a layout where the battle's spawn point is near its trigger point, that's the best advice I can offer. And set the battle's difficulty to "medium" ("Hard" battles might include bosses for solo players). IIRC, battles use rescue spawn points.