Golden_Avariel

Ahhh!! That would certainly explain it wouldn't it? I was wondering how they heck you could create an arc with locked content to begin with. LOL

Yep, the text editor truly sucketh for MA. I really hope that's at least somewhat improved in i15.

* Not seeing characters that really are there
* Copy/Paste not working 100% - especially true if you highlight some text and paste over it when you are likely to lose huge chunks of text not selected
* Blinking text
* cursor disappearing or skipping to a different place

*sigh* I just keep telling myself it is a work in progress. But I truly love being able to make custom missions for myself and my friends tailored for our particular character stories so I keep slogging away at it.

Decaf, lightly sweetened iced tea. Sometimes a glass of ... oh... no alchoholic beverages

When I need caffiene it's coffee or various hot teas. Fridays are sort of LAN party/game night at my house when the Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper flow freely while we all hunch over our computers and defeat bad guys while talking too loudly.

[ QUOTE ]
Can I have a claws blaster too?!!?



That would be hilarious.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is just dumb... obviously it would be properly called a Spines blaster.

When I looked at the detail list for the Family, it only had 2 minions and one lieutenant in the level 30-35 range then a bit more in the 36-40 range.

I'm not sure why my test with a level 35 character didn't spawn the level 35 mobs over and over but I'll chalk it up to experience.

I modified my mission to use Council instead (which is 1-54) and will test it this evening. I expect it'll work fine now.

Lesson learned - be sure to check the deail list of any mob you intend to use and not just trust the level range given.

Thanks Telstar. It occurred to me while I was composing the post so I'm glad to hear it works.

No sorry, no idea. I did find this... it has no answer either but maybe it'll trigger something for you or the OP of that thread can chime in if he found an answer.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...;Main=13326618

Sorry I can't be more helpful. Hopefully someone else will chime in. Failing that I suppose you could /bug it and see if customer support can help you. If they do be sure to let us know.

This problem is why I stopped using the excellent Word document template to write my missions in advance. Now I'm forced to write them in MA, Alt-Tab to Word and paste it for spell checking or using the thesauraus or whatever, then manually correct the MA. Not exactly an ideal situation.

I suppose what I could do is use the template, then paste the whole thing to Notepad to get the flat text, then paste from that into the MA... hmm...

In addition to Telstar's request for clarification, I'd also like to know how the mission pacing is set. If it is Staggered it could result in some groups being tougher than others and you could get unlucky about what you are first running into. Try changing to Flat or Ramp Up to get a better feel for your group.

And Telstar is very correct about custom critters being harder than standard mobs. I've about decided that they aren't really appropriate as a full mission spawn at this time - especially with the arc size limit being a real crimp on creating a fully fleshed out group (6-8 minions with 2-4 lieutenants and a couple of bosses) AND having a real story involving more than 1 or 2 missions.

And unfortunatly no - the NPC powersets are not available. I wish they were or I wish we could rename/recostume existing standard mobs for more seemless use in custom groups but like they say: "wish in one hand..."

Did I read the list right? That some extra powers that appear standard in the builder don't actually show up unless the critter is a certain level?

Has it always been that way? I was under the impression that the powers listed were always present regardless of level. I will be very relieved if powers are dynamically selected based on level (now or later).

[edit] sorry, this is a QR to the OP

When you press the Publish button it only takes a few seconds. You'll get a confirmation in your chat box and if you go to the "My Published Missions" tab it should be listed there.

If it won't publish then edit your mission, make sure the size isn't too big (bar across the bottom isn't full) and that the error "?" in the upper right isn't orange. If it is then click on it to find out what's wrong.

The only other reason I can think of that it might not publish is that you already have 3 published (i.e. it did publish and you didn't realize it) but I'm assuming that's not the case given your question.

[edit] I also think (haven't seen it myself) that if it won't publish you'll get a generic error in the chat box instead of a confirmation so keep a look out for that. See the thread "Unable to publish arc decriptions" for an example of a generic error some people are getting and possible solutions.

[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't have even bothered with this thread if I hadn't seen so many costumes that looked SO COOL in their waist-up mugshots, only to discover that they were completely ruined by a stupid choice of legs. In fact, I thought to make it when I caught myself thinking "This mugshot is pretty cool! I'll give it four muscle men. Oh, wait... Let's see how much they ruined it with the wrong legs. Yuck! Hideous! I'll give it two for the effort!" When you're expecting that every cool torso you see will be ruined by the legs that come with it, something is horribly wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL Ok... I gotcha now. I have to admit I have been disappointed by seeing a glimpse of something cool only to realize when I get a better look that their front didn't live up to the back, or the face to the body or the bottom to the top. Not literally angry but a sort of let down in the pit of my stomach and a muttered "oh".

I have an escort in the middle of one arc that is possible to kill. The fail text talks about how unfortunate their death was but it was a good thing they told you what you needed to know before they died. It puts a little emotion into the story... though I think since I did that I made the escort a non-combatant and thus unkillable because of feedback. *shrugs*

At any rate, any failure before the last mission needs to be recoverable in some way shape or form because the arc will continue success or fail.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What's the matter with half-naked chicks...

[/ QUOTE ]

I knew what Bad was referring to because I've seen her post about it in the past...

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, you had the advantage over me. I see what you are saying re near-naked chicks in high heels now.

While I agree with most of your suggestions regarding the costume creator and most of your aesthetic as I understand you, I hate to agree with the topic heading. My taste isn't someone else's and that was sort of what I was alluding to in quoting my father.

While color taste is almost a science, style taste wanes and waxes over the years and I've never seen that it is set in stone. So who's to say one person's taste is better than another - what you hate now may be very much in vogue 2 years from now in the real world... who knows? I know lots of people that used to "hate" thin glasses and praised big rims who now "hate" "clunky" rims and wear tiny glasses now. And don't even get me started on all the hair styles that have come and gone during my lifetime.

I'm sure what you are saying is probably considered good and proper among people who know such things... right now. But I know what I like and that's good enough for me and I am certainly not going to be bothered by what someone else does.

It is one thing to be the comical Arbiter Fabulous but quite another to have the same attitude in a serious "I hate" or "rage" sort of way. It just seems a little strange to feel that way about a costume to me.

Tray clicker.

I use the keyboard for movement and targeting and don't really see how clicking on the tray slows me down at all... now in a really laggy situation I find the number keys are more reliable than button mashing but not necessarily faster. And I'm with Philly... I don't play the same character 2 nights in a row enough to reflexively know which key is which power.

If the reason to use them is reliability or if you tend to concentrate on one character for long periods of time, then I can totally understand being a keyboard power user. However, I still think using combo keys for any reason, and especially power trays, seems a lot slower to me than just pressing the button and not worth the effort.

As far as I know all that does is give the boss a broader set of powers to work with. Sometimes that's good... sometimes it's bad... sometimes even Standard is bad for some powersets.

An EB with fewer powers is probably less powerful than one with more to choose from but they are both still Elite Bosses.

This is only my experience and I don't really feel qualified to answer these kinds of questions so YMMV. But I'm tired of the grouching in this forum and would really like it to mature into a useful place to get information and help.

Yes, create a custom group then mix and match what you want from the standards or even custom critters. It works fine as long as the mobs you pick have the same level range.

If they aren't the same level then you can have instances where a particular player might experience only one type of enemy or another. The best way to fix that is to create a patrol made up of a standard group with the most inclusive range so your mission will always spawn what you want.

At least that's been my experience. Maybe someone else knows better.

Here's an example:
Group1 contains Skulls (5-20) and custom critters (1-54) - A mission containing this group (assuming no other limiting goals) would still be 1-54 but if a player comes in at levels 1-4 or 21-50 then they'll only see the custom critters. Only players in the 5-20 range would ever see any skulls.

But if you add a patrol of Skulls then the mission will auto sk the level 1-4 players to 5 and auto-exemp the level 21-50 players to 20 and they should see spawns of combined Skulls and customs.

Did that make any sense?

I created a new villain arc. It uses all standard mobs and custom bosses. I used mostly level 1-54 groups but in the final mission I also used the Family for a little variety and for story purposes.

When I test this mission with a level 35 character all the Family spawns are level 30. Only the mission objective spawns (not Family) were of the appropriate levels. I could literally walk right through it fighting only the required encounters.

When I test with a level 24 character everything is great.

It's all a bit frustrating and completely opposite of the level+12 problems I was having in a different arc.

Is there some gap in the Family group, despite the description saying they are 5-40? Any suggestions for an alternate group with a similar theme and wide level range?

We had no trouble whatsoever. Trying to lure him into the last altar tunnel turned out to be a bad idea since he couldn't seem to fit into it. Then we got scattered chasing him down. We should have just fought him on that little flat spot near the central lake.

I never even saw the fire imps but my wife said she took them out with a couple of side shots from her corruptor. As soon as I was able to immobilize the demon the stalkers got into position and boom... 50% hit points, then the corruptor's scourges started kicking in and my domination triggered and I kept him perma-held for the rest of the battle.

It was almost anti-climatic. I spent more time fretting and trying to strategize than the actual mission took.

Thanks for all the tips guys. It was a fun few nights diversion.

Ok, I knew I had read it someplace. That doesn't mean I wasn't smoking something but it had no relation to this thread.

What's the matter with half-naked chicks in high heels? But you know... if there was a decent shoe or boot for women that didn't look clunky... the stilleto without the insane, if pretty, heel would be great, or the cowboy boot shoe portion with the smooth top... then I wouldn't use the high heels as much as I do. The other boots just don't look... right. Maybe I'm one of those you hate ST. Like my father used to say "If I was stupid... would I know it?" A thought to make you go hmmm...

[ QUOTE ]
Justice has always kinda been TF central, though. It's just that kinda server, which is why I've never played anywhere else.

[/ QUOTE ]

Justice rocks.

And I like Posi, it's all in how you approach him. We talked to him around 12th or 13th and treated him like we would any other story arc contact. We ran his missions over the course of a week for a couple of hours at a time. We all had a blast.

But then we've been playing the Cap SF for 3 days now Just the way we like to do them I suppose.

[ QUOTE ]
21) Synapse and His Lover: The Fast and the Furious

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok... now I've spit coffee all over my keyboard. ROFL

It was a good hallucination while it lasted

I'd still *swear* I heard or read that someplace.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
QR

Did I hear something about a completely revamped costume maker coming? I think it was in the Going Rogue announcement. Did I just imagine that?

Maybe, just maybe, they'll finally expand the legs section and add a bunch more details all over. That would be cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seriously? This sounds amazing if it's true!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah well I can't find it now to save my life. I must have been smoking something.

QR

Did I hear something about a completely revamped costume maker coming? I think it was in the Going Rogue announcement. Did I just imagine that?

Maybe, just maybe, they'll finally expand the legs section and add a bunch more details all over. That would be cool.