Eva Destruction

#67335 - Teen Phalanx Forever

Why I chose it: Because it is awesome.

Do I really need to recommend this arc any more than it has already been recommended? Unfortunately the ally nerf hasn't been kind to it, but still, it could be worse.

#61013 - The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space

Why I chose it: Because it is awesome.

B-movie parody/homage. I hate B-movies. It's still awesome.

The Bronze rolls are being kind and spewing out lovely shinies such as Steadfasts and Karmas, so I'm going to roll a few more at 20 once I clear up some market slots, since stuff seems to sell for more and faster at levels that are multiples of 5.

I dislike them because I don't personally know enough people who are interested in running one to get on a MO attempt with people I know. Which means I have to rely on PuGs and sign-up attempts, which allow anyone who signs up as long as the "essentials" are covered. These attempts are few and far between, so the failure stings even more, since it may be weeks before I can try again.

I do get ticked off when people die on that stupid tree. I can't count the times I've failed an MoSTF attempt because that one squishy couldn't understand the simple concept of "hug the wall." Random mistakes, brain farts, events outside the players' control, those I can shrug away, but tree aggro is extremely easy to avoid, you know this is a common failure point, you have no excuse.

Fire Armor AVs are innately frustrating as hell to anyone who relies on fire damage, since they have insanely high fire resistance (something like 90%). The lack of KB protection is irrelevant since AVs bring their own.

Fire melee is going to hurt, no matter what you do. Fire is designed to hurt. For a lower level AV you might want to slow down its attack chain, but high level dev-created AVs pretty much keep attacking.

Oh yeah, nukes. Custom Critters don't always wait until they're at 1/4 health to use them like dev-created critters do. Same deal with tier 9s like Unstoppable. Make sure you test repeatedly if you want an AV to activate a tier 9 when their health gets low. Instant Healing is right out, since you might as well not bother attacking for the first two minutes of the fight. Rise to the Challenge is also bad, as it makes MMs with melee pets worse than useless.

Heavy-hitters like Total Focus, Headsplitter, and the like should probably be reserved for high-level (40+) arcs, as should nukes and tier 9s, if you choose a set with a tier 9 that works properly and decide to include it.

It isn't so much what sets to avoid anymore, it's what powers to avoid. Build Up, Aim, Rage cause AVs to hit VERY VERY HARD, even scaled down to EBs. Auto-hit end drains are just annoying. A defensive or debuffing secondary cranked up makes for a tedious fight.

You should use sets that are thematically appropriate for your AV's character and background. As for making them too easy or too hard, you will have to test them. Keep in mind that many players solo AE and will encounter your AV as an EB, while a well-put together team will just steamroll any AV you make unless it's stupidly insanely hard.

#18775: City of Ho Ho Ho, or A Claus in Paragon


Why I chose it: Author's suggestion.

I see where you're going with this, but it's not quite there. The arc keeps flipping between "flashback mode" and a more conventional style. I like the flashback idea better, it's a meta-game use of the Architect system but it makes sense. It has the potential to be a very charming holiday-themed arc.

#103934: Dr. Thomas' First Day

Why I chose it: I was two bars to level 20 and Stamina, and wanted something short-ish. To the search feature! *cue Batman music* I checked off "medium," "4 stars," "my level," "not completed" "looking for feedback" and "Final." About 40 presses of the "random" button later, I had sifted through about 40 1-54 custom groups, with the usual completely level-inappropriate things like Extreme Archvillains. So I narrowed the search down by enemy group; "Trolls" and "Outcasts" each gave me a page of stuff with single-sentence descriptions and spelling errors, "Vahzilok" gave me more of the same, and this one arc, with a properly spelled actual description.

It's a D.A.T.A. employee's first day on the job, heroes he sent out on a mission go missing, you have to find them. The premise falls apart on canon issues, but it has an actual story and doesn't contain any of the gameplay atrocities that arcs found through random searches tend to be full of.

More importantly, I am level 20 and have Stamina. I'm up to 5926 tickets. Time for grocery shopping, then another batch of Bronze rolls.

#245042: The Next War on Drugs

Why I chose it: PW's list.

It's an investigative street crime story, just as it sounds. It's not super-fancy but it's well put together, the missions are kept interesting, there's some good dialogue, and the non-combat investigative mission is done well.

#114284: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Why I chose it: PW's list, author suggested it.

Although Impervium is THIS girl's best friend (cause you can make swords out of it), Desdemona really likes her diamonds. she likes them so much she sends me on a long convoluted quest to get her some. It's a solid "heist" arc, although the mission design is somewhat bare-bones (some of which may be due to cutting allies due to the nerf). And now I have that song stuck in my head.

I'm now level 19.5, a large part of which was due to clearing a large outdoor map in the last arc.

Next I'll be trying "City of Ho Ho Ho," and then...??? Maybe I'll re-run "Teen Phalanx" and "A Penny for your Thoughts," then once I hit 20 I have a few more I'm looking to run.

Supergratz!

I love Elite Bosses. Unlike a boss they stand out, they don't scale down to two-shottable lieutenants if you have bosses turned off, and for a player running on x8 they are tougher than the zillions of bosses leading up to them.

Unlike scaled-down AVs they further scale down to bosses if you have bosses turned off, they don't ignore two ATs' primaries and they don't ignore knockdown. And because they're easier you can have more than one "big bad." You still shouldn't give them Build Up and Headsplitter though.

Well you can clump them together on the nav bar by making their Navigational text identical. As for the hostages themselves, you will probably have to bite the bullet and change up their names.

Great list, thanks for including my arc.

I just played "The Next War on Drugs" as part of my level 1-50 project, so I've already benefited from it.