Lazarus

Was there a patch today? (still at work) I hope they didn't break the compression again, I'm getting really sick of not being able to truly use all the space allowed because the game keeps changing it's mind on how much space things really take up.

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A note on this; for the first year or two early in the game if you logged or DCed, that was it, you were off the TF. So no spreading things out over several days,

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Wrong, you have always been able to log off and come back without leaving the TF team or recover from a disconnect if you were in the correct level range to have started the TF. You're referring to the early attempts at exemplarling into a TF that you had outleveled and even then that problem only lasted a few months, not years.

The original TFs were designed for a group to play over a series of days, not all in one sitting. Positron said this a long, long time ago.

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The electric armor Nagans were immune to my knockback, and additional mez protection is something that's usually not a good thing.

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Working as intended. The group is designed to have some diversity in the attacks and defenses. Two critters who can slightly resist Knockback and Immobilize avoids control types simply going "ha ha, you can't melee me!"

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Nikki was willpower and had heightened senses, and with her +perception, attacked me before I was ready.

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Vikki has it because she is a Boss and not only is Heightened Senses a standard power (custom can only add powers to what Standard gives, not take them away) but without it she'd be very vulnerable to Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative Energy damage. She only has Fast Healing for Regen as well.

Regardless, it does give something new for the player as the boss is not simply going to stand around waiting to be pulled and that is why there is still a big bright red warning when you receive the mission despite her only being a boss.

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Suggestion: Get me involved. Why select me?

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I don't know your backstory. It's up to you to fill in why you've been called for specifically. Remember, Iron Samurai didn't call just any hero for backup. He called you! If I tried to write the player's motivation for them then I'd get an entirely new set of complaints.

Yes, I know that the plot needs work. Unfortunately I'm at a bit of writers block and people only tell me "needs work" but never give any actual suggestions as to what could improve it. I wish the Devs would get the damn purchasable slots working already so I could publish the villain arc that runs parallel to this one and fills in a number of those missing details.

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Right now, it feels like Just a Bunch of Stuff Happened.


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Didn't Venture trademark that line by now?

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Your run is the first time anyone's reported that problem with the interceptor, but I'll see if I can find something with a smaller footprint since I evidently can't count on it spawning in a sane place.

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It spawned on the third floor in that area where you have the series of narrow stairways going up and down in a circle. We found it in the middle of the hallway near the stairs and even after it was destroyed it remained,. That entire time my friend (who was a Mastermind) could not get her pets to go past it and even I had trouble slipping my skinny little Stalker around it. Fortunately there was nothing down that hallway that we needed to get to.

Astoria in D Minor is Lazarus approved, as is anything by @Wonderslug.

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As you said earlier in the thread, it's a good thing when pretty much the only thing I can find to complain about is "our" mistyped as "out" in the first mission intro ("out members out").

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Now you know why I don't nitpick author's grammar much when doing reviews. Thanks for catching that one.

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The progression of enemies in the fourth mission is excellent - a nice, "huh?" moment when you meet the first shadow form, and then additional info on the enemies after the reveal as you fight back out. Excellent use of a little used AE feature. If I'm going to be super picky having at least the first enemy having an empty enemy group tag (or ??? again) would just help - it does feel a little odd that my hero looked at it and went, "I have no idea what it is, never seen one before, but it's obviously a void demon..." I do acknowledge that creating an entirely seperate group just for that is probably overkill though :P

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I haven't updated this much at all yet for issue 15, aside from adding in the little Renders. I'll keep that in mind as there is a feature to over-ride the group name in boss details now.

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Just finished Portal Bandits. Enjoyable custom faction, like a Longbow that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out.

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That was the idea. Trying to be challenging without being cheap and aggravating.

Arranged in alphabetical order for fairness and ease of use:
<ul type="square">[*]Altoholic_Monkey -- Indies (1 mission) | Sequels (2-3 missions) | Epics (4-5 missions)[*]Beach_Lifeguard[*]Bubbawheat | (In Character) [*]DeviousMe (QPQ) (no longer accepting submissions)[*]Dragonslay[*]Frozen_Northman (QPQ)[*]Glazius (read first post for conditions)[*]HolyEvilAoD (no longer accepting submissions)[*]Jophiel[*]Lazarus -- New (Semi-QPQ), Old[*]LaserJesus[*]Misho[*]Parkin (read first post for conditions)[*]Peacemoon (QPQ)[*]PoliceWoman (QPQ) | Reviews of arcs written by other Reviewers[*]ridiculous_girl (QPQ)[*]SteelSky[*]Stomphoof (QPQ)[*]Talen_Lee[*]TerminusEst13 (Focuses on BAD arcs)[*]theHedoren (QPQ)[*]Venture[*]Wrong Number (Humor Arcs, QPQ)[/list]
EU reviewers
<ul type="square">[*]Col.Blitzkrieger (no longer accepting submissions)[*]Leese[*]Master_Zaprobo (In character)[/list]
Review sites
<ul type="square">[*]City of Guides - Mission Architect[*]CoH Mission Review[*]Mission Architect Advanced Search Site[/list]
Note: QPQ = quid pro quo: Play and rate/give feedback to the reviewer first in order to get a review on your arc, some are more lenient on this than others. Also, tends to have a shorter queue.

Also, some non-QPQ have more than one reviewer with some not accepting new submissions, check the most recent page for up-to-date information.

Semi-QPQ means that the reviewer only requires it for longer, in depth reviews and not for short, quick reviews.

Quick Review: These are a few that I came across over the weekend.

Arc ID: 123178
Arc Title: The Science of Eternity
Author: @Wonderslug
Morality: Heroic
Length: 4 Missions
Description: One disenfranchised Crey researcher. One mad doctor with resurrectionist ambitions. What could possibly go wrong?
Quicky Review: Has the Wonderslug quality I have come to expect but still is a bit lacking in some areas. It's a nice try at high-level Vahzilok mobs, but really could use some explanation as to how Doc. Vahz is making a comeback after being put in the Zig some twenty levels ago. Also needs a better object to stand in for the Mediport Interceptor, as the current one has a tendency to block entire corridors. Otherwise the design of the critters is good and the Rogue Crey used those Scorpinoids that I like.
Rating: ****

Arc ID: 161629
Arc Title: Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Author: @Archdemon
Morality: Heroic
Length: 5 Missions
Description: A group of would-be heroes find themselves in way over their heads and in desperate need of help in a tale of shadowy conspiracies, deadly politics, and total pwnage.
Quicky Review: Despite what an early clue may suggest, it's not all a Nemesis plot. Still needs some polish on the details but overall it's a fun arc where you get to bust a Malta conspiracy while helping some lower-rung heroes in the process.
Rating: ****

Arc ID: 188971
Arc Title: Avgrunden Oppnas
Author: @TerminusEst13
Morality: Neutral
Length: 4 Missions
Description: When a small book is given to the Family as reward for a job well done, it turns out the Warriors want it too. When neither are willing to share swords, guns, and magic clash against each other.
Quicky Review: First time I've seen someone attempt a high level Warriors group, and justify it as well. Makes good use of customs, Family, and Banished Pantheon along with some serious yet witty clues and dialog to create an interesting adventure.
Rating: *****

Those who are still in the queue, you have not been forgotten:
@Sayaki - The Cold Wind (4552)
@Arashi - The Order of Steel Part 3 - The Fallen Saint (147682)
@MrSquid - The Lost Choir: The Old Testament (123675)
@Mr. Crowley - The Day I Tried to Live (131780)
@Sumerian - Power Play (187269)
@jjac - The History of Statesman (219484)

Hello everybody! I was feeling that the old review thread needed a relaunch for a few reasons.
1) The title was kinda stupid after all.
2) I wanted to revamp the rules and cannot edit the first post of the old thread. Since if I made an update to the rules partway through it would simply get lost and ignored, starting a new one was the better option.

So here goes: the general purpose of this is the same, to provide feedback to those who want it while spotlighting good arcs that I come across. There will be two kinds of reviews: quickie reviews which will just be a short paragraph on why I thought it was a good arc and maybe a few things that could use improvement, and critical reviews where I go slowly and examine it in depth.

If you'd like a quick review, just post your arc information in the following format.

Arc ID:
Arc Title:
Author:
Morality:
Number of Missions:
Description:

That's the format I use, so filling in the blanks makes it easier and quicker.

A warning for everyone critical reviews will have spoilers.

The critical reviews queue is closed indefinitely. I will not be doing any more of them from now on. (8/22/2009)

My rating system generally goes like this: I started at 3 stars and add or subtract from there. 3-stars is radio mission quality in my opinion. 4 stars is above average, while 5 stars is not perfect but means I recommend that everyone play it.

Now let's cover the things that I like and dislike in arcs, so you have some idea of whether or not you want to submit yours to me.

Let's start with the things that I don't like in arcs:

• Kill All missions. There is almost never a real justification for it unless you're using a really small map.
• Glowie hunts in big outdoor maps got old years ago. Hostage searches on those maps are not fun either. Neither are Where's Waldo? boss hunts when it's a regular boss and not a unique one or an EB/AV.
• Bad-spelling and grammar. Use a spellcheck, have someone proofread it for you, just try to make it look like you know how to write. I don't expect perfection and am not going to knock off a star for a typo here or there, but if your intro dialog looks like a teenager's cell phone text message I'm going to just quit right there.
• Arcs where the player is treated as an idiot. If I can figure out the plot twist three missions before the contact does and yet still get talked down to then there is a problem.
• Uneven level ranges. There is no excuse for it anymore after issue 15. There is a setting in Mission Parameters to set your minimum and maximum levels. Use it!
• AV fights without a disclaimer in the arc description.
• Custom mobs that overuse annoying powers. If I walk in and see that the room is filled with Storm Summoners then I'm going to turn around and leave.
• I don't care much for origin story arcs. I have played a few that have a decent story in there that just happens to give backstory on the contact, but I don't want to play just to find out how you got your powers. I'm here to have fun with my character, not here about how awesome yours is.
• I hate escorts that make me travel across long maps, more than one set of elevators, or through portals. You better have a good reason for it.

The things that I do like in arcs:

• I like story-driven arcs. That doesn't mean I won't play a challenge arc but it better have some good reasons for me to be playing through it.
• I do like custom mobs. However because they are so easy to do wrong and can ruin the arc, I will be extra critical when custom mobs are involved.
• I like having allies when there is a reason for them. I like having them for AV fights, but if the mission just has the same sort of bosses I can solo anytime then I won't bother with them if they have a tendency to get in the way.
• I don't do "Task Force" arcs that are meant to be un-soloable. I'm not going to get a team together and subject them to stopping every 10 minutes so that I can take notes.
• I'm not fond of multi-arc stories that are designed to really be a 10-15 mission arc. Each arc should have a definite beginning, middle, and end. A critical review of a 5-mission arc can take me 2 hours, 15 missions would be all night and I'm not going to do that.
• I love fun. The story can be very absurd and still be logical and fun. If I had a fun time you're very likely to get at least a 4.

Now if you didn't get a good rating, but made changes to address whatever flaws and problems I found in your arc and want to re-submit it for review, then you can just do so. Keep in mind re-reviews will have a lower priority than arcs that have not been reviewed yet. The re-review will be much shorter, most looking at the changes and fixes rather than a second comprehensive review. Upon review I will update my rating of the arc both in this thread and in the game.

Now let's get going.

Whenever you get around to the 40's Bubba, take a run through "The Portal Bandits" (3326) if you haven't already. It got a big update for issue 15 but be warned that the critters are designed to be fair yet tough.

Hopefully purchasable story slots will be available soon so I can offer up my time travel related arc as well.

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Kind of like the arc from Magus Mu'Drakhan, you're cursed and forced to save all of Mu kind, numbering some one billion people across the globe. Why would my character care if a billion people die? OH! I've been cursed so that if they die, I'll die too? Well, that's convenient isn't it?


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I thought that was Mage Slayer Zakura's (sp?) arc and the justification was not only is at least 1/3 of the Earth's population descended from the Mu but that you might be as well and could very well die if you don't stop the ritual. Of course someone will have a character is not not human or whatever but it works for most of the playerbase.

You could place a Boss Detail at the front location and trigger it off of one of the escorts, so that he'll be waiting for you at the door. Right now there is no way to have a single-critter ambush.

Changes made to "The Amulet of J'gara":
* Somehow one of the bookcases got it's location reset to "Any", causing it to sometimes appear outside the library. Fixed now.

By default they should never fight each other unless one is set to enemy and the other set to ally, or one/both are set to rogue.

I have seen some weird behavior in regular missions lately though. Last night in Scirocco's 1st arc we found Serafina's allies attacking her when we got to her room. No one in there was marked ally to us, they were simply hostile to everything which is not how that mission worked prior to issue 15.

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To my understanding, there's a new option to force your arc to a specified level with appropriate forced scaling of the enemies in range.

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Yeah, but as best as I can tell, you can't scale anything up, only down. I've got a 54 high arc, and with I15 I wanted to add to one mission a group that only spawns 40-44, and bring them up to the mission level. But as long as the mission level is 54 high, you still only get those enemies at 44 and below.

It's one mission out of five, and it's really meant to be an endgame style arc. I don't want to drop the whole arc 10 levels just to accommodate this group, even though I'd really like them in there. And since I hate it when arcs randomly exemp you to various levels mission to mission, I'm loath to go that route.

Now, if I'm wrong, someone PLEASE correct me. I'd love to be wrong about this.

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If you place them using Details they will show up, they just will be level 44 in your level 50 mission. I tested this with Trolls, Hellions, and Outcasts. They spawn but will be all grey and won't aggro on you, which annoyingly means that they never say their dialog unless attacked.

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I think the point here is that it's inconsistent with the rest of the game - and comes as a rude shock to a new stalker or MM player. Seeing as how it doesn't work like this in the rest of the game, it feels a bit like you're being cheated.

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Actually, those kind of ambushes show up quite frequently outside of mayhems.

Yes, while those cheating ambushes can be annoying there is the other problem that normal ambushes are too easy when they just run to a spot on the map that you are not at anymore and just stand there. Besides, Masterminds have Bodyguard and Stalkers have Defense/Resistance and Mezz Protect toggles (unless you're one of those gimps I've seen running around in the 30s who only took Hide and no other secondary powers.)

Anyhow, the lack of ambushes makes mayhems very boring now when you can do all the side missions and nobody tries to come and stop you.

Some posters are ignoring a important difference between this medium and others when concerning the rating/feedback system. Unlike a movie, a novel, or an album, a story arc can easily be changed after it's been released. These aren't set in stone once they are released, with the exception of the Dev Choice arcs any arc can be edited almost instantly in response to feedback. Helping the author does make things better for the audience that comes after you, and for you as well if you choose to replay the story arc.

Yes there are those who think that their work is perfect and don't listen but those tend to be the exception rather than the rule. And so what if someone gets mad from negative feedback and starts harassing you? Ignore exists for a reason and it's not like nobody has ever been banned for harassment either.

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might be a good time to get mayhem badges with a stalker than

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Meh, my Stalkers had no trouble getting the mayhem badges before this bug. Lrn2play!

Thankfully it's a bug. Takes a lot of the fun out of mayhems.

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you should lose the attitude that you've been wronged somehow. It's disgraceful.

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My attitude is just fine. You're actually making a bigger deal out of this topic than I am and making most of the accusations.

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Every single rating offers the rest of the playerbase one player's impression of the arc's overall merit. Some will be better than others.

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A rating with no information attached to it doesn't help them much either in fact. They don't know if someone rated an arc 2 stars because it was a bad story or because "too many words, can't farm, lol".

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Fixing your arc isn't my responsibility.

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I never said that it was. Apparently however you don't think that it would be basic decency to alert the author to a problem which they may not, and likely are not, aware of.

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you feel entitled to an explanation for any rating lower than five stars

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Nowhere did I say that I was entitled, that is something you keep saying. I only said that I would like an explanation. You love putting words in peoples mouths, don't you?

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you feel that players who rate your story less than five stars owe you some sort of explanation for it.

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You keep saying that like you think it will magically turn out to be true. Anyhow, I'm tired of you trying to justify your cowardice. Feel free to keep talking but I don't see any reason to listen.

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First of all, I didn't accuse the OP of not being able to take constructive criticism; nor did I conflate ratings without comments with constructive criticism.

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But if an author says "I don't mind a three-star rating, as long as you explain it," then he clearly doesn't see feedback as helpful, constructive criticism at all, but as appeasement, justification, or an explanation that he's owed by someone rating his arc less than five stars.

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Make up your mind. You're either accusing or not, here you're trying to do both at the same time.

A rating without any comment at all is not constructive criticism in the slightest. In a way it can be considered griefing as you're not doing anything but causing grief for the author. They don't know what you didn't like, therefore they cannot fix the issue, therefore it is not fixed.

The most aggravating thing about the feedback system is that when somebody likes your arc, they more often than not tell you and tell you why they liked it. But most often when they don't like it they won't tell you anything.

When you get hundreds of ratings and most of them are very-good to excellent and suddenly get some bad ones, you are going to want to know why. Even more annoying if it is due to something that the Devs themselves broke in a patch and people are rating you down down for a bug that you didn't know about, and probably cannot even fix, but aren't alerting you to the issue. Such a thing can go unnoticed for days, even weeks.

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And I don't comment on why I rated an arc the way I did unless I feel like it. That's the player's prerogative. If an author isn't "thankful" or happy with a three-star rating I give him without comment, that's too bad.

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And as far as I'm concerned, a low-rating with no comment whatsoever is less useful than the wings on a kiwi.

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But if I were to give those less-than-flattering (yet non-insulting, non-abusive) comments as constructive criticism, precisely how is it that I'm partly to blame if the author then griefs my arc, harasses me in tells, or takes my comments out of context and lampoons them here?

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In my case, why would I want to destroy my reputation as a reviewer? Does it look like I can't take constructive criticism?

Personally I take this as the meaning of "Just a Bunch of Stuff that Happens".

"MacGuffin Delivery Service" is still bugged for the first two missions until the next patch comes, but I made some changes anyway.
* Fixed missing animations on some bosses.
* Reduced Boss details to "Easy" size in places where they could cause a room to be much too crowded.
* Reduced some of the battles in mission 4 to "Easy" size.
* Removed the Inventory Computer from mission 4 and replaced the info it gives with a Mission Start Clue.
* The CoT map in mission 3 has a tendency to clog the first corridor junction with a double spawn. Fortunately there is a Front spawn there so I was able to stick in an Easy patrol that wanders away quickly and cuts down a lot on the crowding.