Lazarus

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-moving the buildings to only high level zones would be counter to the first point. However, I do support removal of the ones in Atlas, Galaxy and Mercy. Removing them from the starter zones would make a lot of players try the normal content before diving into AE and avoid the issue where some newer players see it as the entire game. And if they're determined to farm, they'd find a buddy to bring them to the higher zone buildings anyways.

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Someone else also suggested delaying the introduction to the AE Tutorial Contact until a later level so that new players spend more time getting used to the regular game before being introduced. Kinda of like how inventions don't really get an introduction until, what, level 15?

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There is only one solution to the "problem" of level 50 noobs: Don't team with them. There. That was easy. Now they're not your problem.

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The only good purpose that the Architect Channel and Cap au Diable broadcast serve now is to spot these idiots and 1-star them long before having to ever deal with one getting on your team.

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I know they exist. Rikti with uniforms and armor that are different from the standard. Ones with splashes of red, for instances. Or the Gunmen with more green on their armor than usual. I only ever see them on Mothership raids. Why don't these Rikti show up in normal missions more often and break up the monotony?

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They are generally found in the Midnighter Arc missions, the Cape mission and occasionally in non-newspaper and non-RWZ missions where Rikti appear.

In the i10 beta, they were the Rikti who showed up in invasions and the other kind were the ones on the mothership. Then they were switched around just before open beta.



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And they got rid of the Rikti Schoolgirls too.

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Dammit!

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And they were hawt too.

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Of course, it's a rule that no matter how ugly an alien species is that the females must be hawt!

Well here are a couple for your next batch. I don't see any of these taking over an hour to complete.
* "All Consuming" (#261148) is levels 20-25 and heavily features the Banished Pantheon.
* "The Amulet of J'gara" (#1709) is levels 25-33 and is split between Circle of Thorns, Tautha de Dannan, Fir Bolg, and a custom group of my design.

All my other arcs are level 35+.

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See this is the problem with Travel powers. You just zip by all the local scenery.

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On the other hand when you spend all your time on the ground running you miss just as much because you couldn't see over your surroundings. Besides, the thing that the OP was talking about is often missed because it is well past the parts of the map that missions take you anyway.

Another new arc. Probably not my best work but figured I'd let everyone else judge it. I always thought that the game was lacking in Banished Pantheon arcs so I gave it a try.

Arc ID: 261148
Arc Title: All Consuming
Morality: Heroic
Length: 5 Missions
Level Range: 20-25
Description: It began when a derelict ship was detected heading for Paragon City. Who would want to
bring the Shivan here and for what purpose?

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The boss demoted to lieutenant sounds exactly like you're running your mission on Heroic. Try upping the difficulty.

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He already knows that, he's describing that the regular LTs are not spawning at all, they're all being replaced with LT versions of Bone Daddies, which is not normal behavior.

I wonder if it's related to that annoying spawning bug we've had for weeks now where randomly a mission will decide that every spawn has to have a boss in it no matter what.

Ok, and just which queue is it supposed to be going into?

Critical Review:

Arc: Power Play
Arc ID: 187269
Author: @Sumerian
Morality: Villainous
Number of Missions: 4
Description: "At last, I've made it to his lair. He though he'd send his goons for me, did he? Well I don't roll over that easily. Not for him. Not for Anyone. It's time to teach him some manners..."
Rating: ****

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Character used: Amanita Infernis, Level 38 Plant Control/Fire Assault Dominator
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 38

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Mission 1:
Turns out that "He" is Doctor Aeon and he has a job for me. Not quite what I was expecting from the description there, you'd think Aeon would have just called rather than trying to have you dragged to his lab when he wanted to hire you to begin with. Anyhow, seems that Doctor Creed is up to some secret project and Aeon wants to know what. Problem is that every agent he sends to find out never reports back, so he wised up and is sending a professional this time.

I enter Creed's lab and see small list of objectives, I'm to find a couple clues, defeat a VAL prototype, download Creed's AI project, and "interview" Creed. A few things strike me already, one of which is: how do I know about the AI and VAL prototype already? At least the AI I shouldn't know about until I talk to Creed.

Also I see the VAL robots. Good thing: they all have custom descriptions. Bad thing: they all have the same description. Bad thing number 2: I see a boss right at the door with Dispersion Field and I'm a Dominator entering with no Domination built up.

At least I have Seeds of Confusion. Unfortunately it misses, most of the bots are Energy Blast/Assault, and I'm spending most of the fight stunned while my Fly Trap nearly dies less than a minute into the mission.

With that battle over with, I find the first two glowies right under the platform I was fighting on. However the Author needs to a) pick more consistent glowies as they are two different computers of which neither belongs on this map and b) pick suitable glowies for the map tileset. It's a Tech Lab, anything other than a Tech Computer just looks silly and amateurish.

With the two clues found I know that Creed is working on an AI called VAL. Oh wait, I already knew that because the objectives spoiled that for me.

Energy Blast, Energy Assault, Energy Blast, Energy Assault. If this group is supposed to an arc for four missions it needs to have a lot more variety than that.

A couple floors up and I found Doctor Creed with the VAL Prototype and a bunch of VAL robots in my way. I take them all down, apparently downloading the AI in the process, and Doctor Creed (who is non-combat) begs me to join forces with him instead of Aeon before running off.

Interestingly, the arc decides that I tell Aeon only about the robots and nothing else.

Mission 2:
Aeon decides that he wants to study the robots that Creed based his design off of, the Longbow HAL X-34. Aeon even says he'll send some Arachnos into the Longbow base ahead of me to stir security and thin out the opposition.

Wait, what message did I send Doctor Creed? Did I accept his offer? I must have missed that but the mission intro pop-up is reminding me of something I guess.

I see now that Creed sent a VAL unit to assist me. I did notice earlier that they were all gynoids, but the joke from the Longbow about it being HAL's girlfriend is making me wonder about some things now. She's only a lieutenant though, so I have to be careful with her.

At the end of the base we ran into HAL X-34. I immediately hit Domination and throw Seeds on the spawn, and then wish I had immobilized them as well as he had dodged the confusion and proceeded to speed boost the entire spawn, causing them to scatter to the winds. Speaking for experience, Speed Boost on a custom critter is bad idea.

Anyhow, I defeated HAL, downloaded his AI, and sent it to Dr. Creed. However according to the debriefing, Creed has been captured by Doc Aeon?

Mission 3:
Now Aeon wants to test out a theory, so he wants me to run over to Faultline and fetch some Clockwork for him. Apparently the ones at the PTS are not the right kind for this experiment. (I wonder what he is testing as according to the clues in Marshall Brass's arc, Aeon already knows about how the Clockwork, work.) This is going to really annoy me as it means dropping to level 20. Is this arc really supposed to be capped at level 20?

At least the mission is in a really small map, but what is Doctor Creed doing here being held captive by Goldbrickers? They also seem surprised to see me, so they're not here to kill me and Creed? I'm really confused, what just happened in this mission?

Anyhow, Aeon doesn't seem to be the wiser and says that the team he sent to Siren's Call got what he needed anyway. Okay...

Mission 4:
Well, Aeon knows that Creed escaped and is sending me to chase him down while he returns to his lab. The lab that Creed had provided me the keycard for last mission.

So Aeon's secret lab is an Arachnos one (doesn't he always use Tech Labs?) and there are hostile VAL units running around as well. I'm also getting hit by that damn spawning bug so every friggin' spawn has a boss in it as well!

I plant the virus that I didn't know Creed had given me, he tries to hack in but gets cut out by something in the system. Hmmm...

Along the way up I ran into Doc Aeon and pounded him into the ground. He informs me that VAL has rebelled and is taking over the base. Well I kinda could see that already. Now it's time to dismantle VAL-X3, who was right around the corner. Unfortunately Domination was running out, fortunately there was two big spawns around her to toss Seeds onto and her Mastermind robots were vulnerable to it as well.

Aeon informs me that he'll be watching me closely from now own after learning of my involvment. He also informs me that VAL-X3's AI was able to escape the lab.

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The Verdict:
It's a good story but it gets quite confusing towards the end. Also there are some more touches that need to be fixed up, like critter descriptions and powers, as well as glowie selection. Also the arc needs fixed level ranges. Come on people, you can set them very easily. If this is meant to be a level 20 arc, which is the impression I really get now after finishing it, then make every mission cap at 20. For now this is a 4-star arc.

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Well. I guess we are looking at a bug then. I'm not upset that it is spawning LT's but I want it to spawn Lts from the Lt Pool not the Boss Pool.

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Wait, you Bosses and LTs come from different groups? You're sure that you set the Surrounding Group on the Boss Detail to be the group you want instead of the default "Same As Boss"? This is becoming more confusing that I initially thought.

Last time it was a Scrapper who sat at 49 for months. This time it's a Corruptor who got to 48 one night and then got set aside while I played a Stalker from 7 to 41.

Maybe it's because I still feel that the big Five-O should be somewhat special and want to wait for a good time for it rather than in some random paper mission.

Only on Heroic in MA. I don't know if it happens to stock AVs but it does to custom AVs.

I would like:
* Outdoor Shadow Shard maps for every zone, especially the Storm Palace.
* That Chantry Map used in two CoV arcs.
* That Mole Point Bravo Map used in Technician Naylor's arc.
* Storm Palace Interior Map
* Nemesis Shadow Shard Base Map
* Shadow Shard Glowies (Monuments, Kora Fruit Vines)

I'd also like President Marchand's Office to have spawn points that actually recognize Front/Middle/Back. Right now is it broken to the point of being useless.

Oh and some outdoor Dark Astoria maps and abandoned office maps with fog inside would be awesome.

I'll confirm that when you duo on Heroic in MA, you will get LTs instead of bosses, EBs will be Bosses, and AVs will be EBs without their Purple Triangles. The rules for difficulty in MA are not quite the same as in regular missions.

Here is the basic UI I use for all characters. Generally the only differences are the color being matched to their costume color theme and some different combat attributes in the monitor.

You two were at least level 32, right? If the critters in the mission are not at least 32 during the playthrough then no imps.

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The purpose of the Ouroboros is to going back and redo entire storyarcs that you may/may not have missed. Mayhems are just missions that don't affect the story of the game.

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We're allowed to flashback into all badge missions that are not inside arcs, so why not let us back into Mayhems, which do have badges inside them. That is the main reason it's so annoying to miss one, you need all of them for the Invader accolade.

I just find it amusing that I can take missiles and plasma beams to the face without blinking and be stomped on by a giant robot yet get away with hardly a scratch, yet suddenly a bunch of normal humans with swords are a huge threat.

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People should make missions that they like. Why should anyone care if YOU don't play it? Telling people to never use defeat alls. Screw you. I'll do what I like. If the only person that ever plays it is me then so be it.

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/raises glass

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Miniobjectives. There are things that simply have to be done, X number of mobs that have to be defeated, bosses that have to be fought. You can't sit at the door and stealth your way past the entire damn thing, get the hostages killed, stealth/tp to the end and fight the AV... You actually have to fight.

I like to fight. Yes, the TF can be finished fast by a steamroller team, but there still has to be fighting. That's why I TF.

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Rampant stealthing and speedrun merit farming is why I don't do TFs without my friends anymore. Recruiting a PuG is too much of damn crapshoot.

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I do agree that the idea of soldiers with swords being able to go toe to toe with level 50 heroes and villains is just ludicrous.

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Agreed. At least the Rikti are believably threatening.

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1) Wide Range: Which means that just like regular missions and just like saucer raids, you get level 35s who feel entitled to have half the team be level 50s, because they feel entitled to be sidekicked. So recruiting for one, once you get the four level 35-45s, grinds to halt as you try to recruit more 50s.


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As far as I'm concerned there is no point in trying to do this unless you already got several people all around the same level. It's worse than trying to recruit for a Respec Trial as the level range is even bigger so good luck finding several level 41s to do it with you. You're better off waiting till 50 or joining a team of 50s.

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If you choose to use a defeat all, you choose story over gameplay, and if I have to rate AE arcs as stories the best ones barely get a 3, and that's mostly for effort.

Make the right choice - don't force me to rate your arcs as stories ; or just keep being stubborn about it and then make topics about people "griefing" you when my 3 stars drops your arc from average 5 to 4. Either way isn't a problem for me.

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Or you could make the right choice and just not play any arc with a Defeat All listed in it. It's not like anyone is going to miss your 1 little vote.

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And also just like no one is going to miss not playing one little defeat all mish.

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Just the chance that you're missing the rest of a good arc over one defeat all in a tiny 2 room map.

Also, you can see right in the description before you even start the arc if there are defeat alls, so your excuse of "wahhh! I ran into a defeat all! Quit and 1-star" just makes you look like an idiot and an [censored].

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If you choose to use a defeat all, you choose story over gameplay, and if I have to rate AE arcs as stories the best ones barely get a 3, and that's mostly for effort.

Make the right choice - don't force me to rate your arcs as stories ; or just keep being stubborn about it and then make topics about people "griefing" you when my 3 stars drops your arc from average 5 to 4. Either way isn't a problem for me.

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Or you could make the right choice and just not play any arc with a Defeat All listed in it. It's not like anyone is going to miss your 1 little vote.

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There is really no reason why the generic heroes and villains shouldn't be included.

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And yet we're allowed to have Hami Mitos. WTF.

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Maybe the difference in duplicated info vs. non-duplicated has to do with custom and regular critters?


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Nope, the behavior is the same. The only difference is that a stock character will show the description field as already filled in, but the file size only goes up if you edit the description. A custom character will show their description in the preview pane on the right side of the window but the Description field in the Detail Properties on the left side will be empty.