Lazarus

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I'm not sure how you got the impression that there would be actual (standard) Outcasts in the mix.

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now half the Outcasts and some newcomers are followin' him.

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You answered your own question. If the contact is saying that Outcasts are following him, then one expects to see Outcasts. One would also expect the mission not to be set from 1-50.

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If there were actual Outcasts, I would think the level range would have been fixed at their range, wouldn't it?

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Not necessarily. If you stuck standard Outcasts in with the customs then they would only spawn at their normal level range. The mission scales to the level range of the entire group, and since the customs are 1 to 54...

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If gang members leave one gang, they usually don't continue to refer to themselves by their former gang's name.

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But why would they change their own names? And skin color for that matter? (Chillers are blue, Scorchers are orange...)

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If I might ask you a silly question, since you thought there would be actual Outcasts in the mission, why would you even play it with a level 50 brute, anyway? I'd have to assume you have mostly level 50 toons to use if you haven't been to the Hollows in 4 years.

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Because since the mission wasn't going to bring me down to the correct level range, I wasn't going to see them anyway so might as well just look at the customs. My lowest character at this time is level 30, she was not going to see standard Outcasts either.

And I haven't been to the Hollows in 4 years because I got sick of the place back in issue 5, then played villainside exclusively until issue 11, when I rolled my first hero in years and she skipped the Hollows on her way to 50 as well.

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If you have any suggestions, I'm always open for them.

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You can start by forcing the arc to the correct level range.

The ability to give them those powers is currently a bug. You can select them but they don't do anything, the limitations listed here are still in effect.

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Actually, that's not entirely true. If there is more than one instance of Mercy Island, the Black Helicopter by Kalinda will allow you to move between them (e.g. move from Mercy Island 2 to Mercy Island 3). That way lowbies don't have to hike all the way to the Port Oakes ferry just to be in the same zone if they end up in different ones.

Still, the belief that it does nothing is perfectly understandable, as multiple instances of Mercy Island are quite rare outside of reactivation weekends, double xp weekends or other special events.

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The other Black Helicopter that services Nerva, St. Martial, and Grandville on the other hand is totally redundant as it is sitting so close to the ferry, which services Cap and Sharkhead as well. I don't see what that Black Helicopter was put for there for in the first place.

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at least it provides a barrier to entry to those who are sloppy writers

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You must be new here.

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This thread is SO behind the times.

Start getting your wallets out, boys and girls!

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Can I get your wallet out instead?

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What are you, a Democrat?

You know what is funny, why even offer the packages?

$5.99 for 1, $9.99 for 2, $19.99 for 5.

Anything less than five arcs is a total ripoff at that pricing, the other two must only exist to make extra money off of people who really suck at math.

Five bucks a slot? Geez.

Arc ID: 118104
Arc Title: Saints and Sinners Part One: The Order of Steel
Author: @Arashi
Description: What started as a simple job spins out of control as a new force emerges from the shadows of Paragon City.
Rating: ***

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Character used: Amanita Infernis, Level 36 Plant Control/Fire Assault Dominator
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 36

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Mission 1:
The contact had no name, just the default "Contact Hologram". At least she gave the name Meg during the introduction but I have no idea who she could be other than that she usually works in the Hollows. Not having been to the hollows since issue 5, I don't know if perhaps she was added after that. A look through ParagonWiki shows a Meg Mason, who matches her appearance and is apparently an infinite mission generator contact for that zone. Why she wants me to look into some armored men breaking into a Crey Warehouse an hour ago I do not know.

Interestingly, while Crey didn't want to tell us what is in the warehouse, they did give us the crate numbers of some items that they want secured. Wait, since when did we do such things for Crey and where are their own security forces?

Also I need to defeat their leader and find the first team that went in there and didn't report back. I see that the mission is titled "End Police-Standoff", which I didn't know this was to begin with.

I get inside and summon my Audrey the Giant Fly Trap, then encounter the first of the Order of Steel, who say that they are carrying out the will of the Saint and that they are to find and eliminate any variables. Apparently by "variables" they mean everyone who isn't one of them.

The critter designs are nifty and apparently using a lot of cyborg and enforcer parts. We have Lancers with Redding Rifles, Skirmishers with Talosrian Claws, and Shield Maiders with...shields (the nifty Tech 2 kind). I can also see traces of Energy Aura on the Skirmishers. All critters have descriptions as well, always a sign of attention to detail.

Soon I came across the first of 3 police hostages and also met two more critters, the Knight and the Cleric. The Cleric was Elec Blast and Empathy, nothing too annoying long as you can lock him down. The Knight on the other hand was annoying as he was Energy Blast and Force Field, with a Dispersion Field to make my controls suddenly useless and Domination was not ready. I'd considering Dispersion Field to be too strong off a power to be putting on a Lieutenant.

In the next battle with a Knight, I found that even with Domination the Dispersion Field is strong enough that it took a double-stacked domination hold to lock him down. I would not want to be on a team for this, those bubbles will be obnoxious if you get multiple Knights stacking them.

And it is a good thing that Dispersion Bubble does not stop Confusion, as there was a Knight standing right next to the Boss at the end of the mission. Also I saw that Energy/Shield Boss use Build Up!

I defeated the Boss and found the three crates, which I apparently never looked inside, I just attached a teleport beacon to each and they were ported away. Oh wait, there is a clue about one being opened and containing computer mainframe parts.

Oh, and apparently I'm not just a variable but also a sinner according to all the enemies. I'm just not part of the plan...

Mission 2:
Apparently I had only gotten 3 of the 5 crates that Crey had wanted secured. Also the Police are having trouble getting the raid leader to talk so they are waiting on a telepath to arrive. I wonder if you have to get a warrant for a mind-reading.

Anyhow, while we are waiting some Freaks are knocking over a jewelry store nearby. Apparently no other heroes are around so Meg asks me to go over and take care of it.

Meg does think it's odd that the dispatcher called her for this. Can you say, obvious trap is obvious?

Well, of course it was a trap. There were Freaks, but their leader mentioned that the Saint wanted them to send a message and there was a laptop there with a video clip of someone telling them to wait for me to arrive. Why was that on the laptop in the store, did they bring it with them? Was it already there when the Freaks arrived and gave them the order then? Anyhow, at 25% HP the Freak Tank summoned a Order of Steel ambush.

Mission 3:
Of course in the meantime the Order is attacking the police station with the Raid Leader from mission 1 is being held. Apparently somehow the alarms were disabled, probably the same way that the ones in the jewelry shop were.

Ok, it's bad enough that the Clerics can cast Fortitude, but are they casting Clear Mind as well? I was very annoyed when my Fly Trap was slaughtered in the lobby, leaving me to do without it for the rest of the mission as I was not going to sit around waiting to summon a new one on a map this tiny.

Which turned out to consider entirely of two spawns. Great, I wasted Domination as well by popping it before going up the elevator, expecting a boss who was not even there.

Most. Anti. Climatic. Mission. Ever.

Really, there was no point to sending me in there are all. No dialog, no clues. You could have just told me that they broke out the Boss and sent me right on to the 4th mission.

Mission 4:
So anyway, the Police network is compromised and that all the locks, cameras, and alarms had been disabled remotely. Now the escaping Order are on their way to Faultline and I'm in pursuit.

The mission is set on the Skyway City highway map, one of the maps I hate the most for the tendency of mobs to spawn in those huge areas and blind corners under the highway rather than on it.

Annoyingly as well, his name changed from Templar to Beserker this time, which made him even harder to locate. He also changed to Super Strength, I saw him use KO Blow on a nearby minion after being confused.

Mission 5:
Ok, so the telepath finally arrived and figure out from the Templar, I mean Beserker, that the Order intends to attack some Longbow data warehouses. Three of them have not reported in for an hour now and they contain info on all sorts of nasty stuff. Apparently Mrs. Weston the telepath had a feeling about the third site and went off to check it out herself for some reason, so I have to go and babysit her.

I arrive at the warehouse and see objectives to secure files and capture the raid leader, but no mention of Mrs. Weston. I did find her in the first room, complaining about me alerted them all to our presence as she was somehow stealthing through. Fine, sit here and rot old lady.

It was a pain trying to ditch her and she didn't get killed fast enough either, should never have picked her up. What the heck is this old hag here for anyway? Finally I managed to use the elevator in the back to ditch her.

Of course whatever files here were already stolen by the Saint. On the next floor I found Warden Rourke, who was smack in my path and I had no choice but to pick him up. Hopefully he'll at least be grateful.

And he was. See, if you're going to give me an ally at least make them likeable and have a real reason to be there. Not some washed-up old fool who should have not been there to begin with.

Down the hall was The Paladin, an elite boss. With Rourke's help he went down and the mission ended.

Of course I find out that all of the other sites were fully comprised as well and that a lot of data was lost. I have to play parts 2 and 3 to see what happens next.

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The Verdict:
The reason that I avoid trilogies in Mission Architect is that the case usually is that the author simply cannot write a tight, contained story. Already from the first part of this one I can see the symptoms. Really, this five mission arc could have been told in three missions after cutting out the redundant 3rd and 4th missions. Neither of those added much of anything to the story but padding it out.

The custom group needs some work as well. The design is solid, but they commit the offenses of bosses with Build Up and LTs who not only have mezz protection but can grant it to entire spawns.

Two allies in the final mission were not only unnecessary, but the first one had no business even being there and was simply unlikable to boot. At least the Longbow Warden had a good reason to be there and help you.

I give this chapter 3 stars.

Arc ID: 100045
Arc Title: Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons
Author: @Alari Azure
Description: Slash DeMento is a former lieutenant in the Outcasts. His new gang, the Demon Spawn, have stolen some weapons and a big bomb from the Paragon City Armory. His target could be Atlas Park! Can you defeat him, destroy the bomb, and confiscate those stolen weapons before he can implement his plan?
Rating: ***

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Character used: Anna Nethema, Level 50 Dark Melee/Fire Aura Brute
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 50

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Mission 1:
It's been over four years since I've taken a hero through the Hollows, so it took a moment to remember who the heck Flux is. He fills me in about Slash and his new gang, asking me to locate them, recover the weapons and destroy the bomb.

I travel to Atlas Park and into the office that they are hiding out in. Right off the bat I start wondering why the author felt the need to highlight all of the mission objectives. Was he worried that I would somehow not see them on my screen?

I might as well just get to commenting on the "Demon Spawn" in general. I don't know what level they are meant for as apparently the entire group is custom and running from 1-54. Why do we need level 50 Outcasts? I was told by Flux that Outcasts were a member of the group, so why are there no regular Outcasts present. Their custom replacements for the Chillers, for example, don't even resemble them.

I would need a sub-level 20 character to see how dangerous they really are, because my level 50 Brute here is not getting a scratch on her.

According to Taz's description he is a big fan of Martial Arts, so why is he attacking me with claws?

Speak of the Devil? Funny you should say that, Slash.

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The Verdict:
I really don't know exactly what the author was trying to accomplish with this group. If you were simply going to expand on the Outcasts, why not reuse some of their units? Nothing particularly stuck out either, most of the guys with weapons just came across as Warriors rejects. I think you need to define more just what this is supposed to be. Maybe if I knew what level I was actually meant to be facing them at and if I actually saw some of the Outcasts in the group that were mentioned. In fact, what was Slash doing in the Outcasts to begin with? They're all mutants but he appears to be a natural Axe/Shield Brute.

Three stars for effort.

Jawbreaker is an amusing finisher on my Mace/WP Brute, especially as due to her relatively small size compared to most NPCs it has been renamed "Ballbreaker."

And Siphon Life doesn't compare to finishing the entire spawn with Dark Consumption. Why settle for only one soul?

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Anyway, when MA went live they really should have wiped all ratings clean and started fresh. Mistake one.

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What the heck are you talking about? The Dev Choice arcs (and not even all of them) where the only ones that were moved from Test to Live when MA went live. All those other arcs had to be published from scratch on Live and all started a 0-stars like anyone else publishing today.

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They also should have 3 MA buildings a side plus RWZ and Pocket D. Too many buildings so people flood to one area. Seems like Vills hit Cap and heroes FLOOD Atlas.

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So your solution for overcrowding is LESS buildings? What?

I don't even highlight that much. Unless I'm warning you about an EB/AV or that the arc is meant to be challenging, the only highlighted text will be the arc title and mission subtitle. I'm not going to indulge those with poor reading skill.

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Bad Team Bingo

We could use some better square material

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My little murder machine doesn't like seeing that square "A Stalker".

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I explained to her that I can't be gay because PK is MY "ideal self". So if anything, I'm just in love with myself. Not surprising.

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Never before have I heard anyone claim to have a man-crush on themself.

I do have a Elec/DA Stalker that I made back in May of 2008 who I played for a week and shelved at level 7 for a year. Then last anniversary I brought her out and played her exclusively for a month to level 37.

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I seem to recall orange being used for warnings in canon missions as well. I use it because I find it easier to read than red.

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Same here. There's just something about red text that is crazy hard to read.

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Especially with the bright light of the datastream in the background.

And don't go crazy with the highlighting, I've seen some arcs where the author did a ton of highlighting for the tl;dr crowd and ended up making it unreadable for everyone else.

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You'll get along famously with the folks in the Defender forums, I can tell.

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Which why it's better to stay in the Corruptor forums, where people actually know to use their entire powersets.

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You'd think...

*thinks of the Rad/Rad who had only the healing aura, AM, and rez at 36....*

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I have seen an ungodly number of /Thermal Corruptors who have skipped basically any skippable power in the set.

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Therefore all Corruptors are morons?

The people who skip all the shields and play Thermals as healbots are the same people who play Empaths who don't buff either. Fortunately they don't live as long on the villainside unless they have an SG to carry their gimp character as most PuGs won't put up with them.

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It can turn players into gods, no other set can do it like Empathy can.

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lol

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And you have numerous other buff/debuff sets that reduce incoming damage by so much that nobody needs to be a god in the first place.

Darkfire Avenger is almost in range for "The Amulet of J'gara" (ID 1709, Levels 25-33).

Cobalt Red is almost in range for "MacGuffin Delivery Service" (ID 1567, Levels 35-40).

Commander Kira is right in range for "MacGuffin Delivery Service". If she likes self-serving then this arc should fit, the story implies that you came up with the initial plan by yourself before it all spiraled out of control.

I don't recommend "The Portal Bandits" until after issue 15. Their are a lot of improvements on the way for it in that issue, especially in the custom critters department. Fortunately it is a 35-50 arc so you probably have time.

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I'm a big fan of chained objectives. For example in one of my missions you have to get the "code" to open a computerized vault. The code is retrieved by kidnapping a hostage (i.e a rescue) that then spawns the glowie (a safe).

Of course opening the safe spawns the end boss. It's a nice way to control the story events somewhat. Thus keeping people from skipping through the mission and heading straight for the end boss.

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I hate this type of chained objective if it's not done the right way. Not because it's a terrible thing overall but because it kills my immersion. I've been through a room or hallway before and there was nothing there. Then I kidnap somebody and suddenly I notice a huge obelisk or tech doodad sitting in the middle of the floor. Now I have actually used this kind of chain in a mission I'm working on but I made it a whiteboard in an office map. That way it's something that somebody might legitimately overlooked on their first time through. Other examples would be file cabinets or trashcans or else crates in warehouse maps. I suppose a safe would be reasonable too if it were some kind of wall safe.

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I avoid these sort of things as much as possible. If we had locked doors it could be easier to make it work right as then you could prevent the "I just searched this room, where did those destructables all come from?" syndrome. The only time it works is when the spawns are enemies and you can write that they came in after you did.

But if the objective chaining causes me to run back and forth across the map over and over, then it's just plain annoying and not "clever" at all.

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And yet Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Cyclops, Flash, etc have proven themselves time and time again capable without the use of a secondary power.

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Because they also have the power of plot, the same one that allows Batman to beat Superman.

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You'll get along famously with the folks in the Defender forums, I can tell.

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Which why it's better to stay in the Corruptor forums, where people actually know to use their entire powersets.

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I hate the AE textboxes, they are so damn buggy that I'm writing all my stuff in notepad now. I found the typos you pointed out and fixed them.

[/ QUOTE ]That's what I've been doing, too. It looked like it was one of those annoying cut/paste errors that places your pasted text somewhere other than where you intended it to go. I really hope they'll do something about the NON-functionality of the text editing system in MA. It's driving me nuckin' futz!

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Especially errors like the one you found, it's likely the kind that doesn't show up during editing but only after republishing. Of course being 3 missions into the arc and when you're the author who's read this a thousand times you just start missing these things more often until a fresh pair of eyes picks them up.

Arc ID: 2622
Arc Title: A Tangle in Time
Author: @jjac
Morality: Heroic
Length: 5 Missions
Description: In an Oranbegan ruin, untouched for hundreds of years, lies a fragile relic that can bend the very rivers of time. Your mission is to tamper with it.
Quicky Review: Another Groundhog Day arc, this time with a magical bent complete with an evil sorceror. If only Azuria really did learn her lesson after this one.
Rating: *****

I hate the AE textboxes, they are so damn buggy that I'm writing all my stuff in notepad now. I found the typos you pointed out and fixed them.

Creative contacts, eh? Might as well submit:

Arc Name: MacGuffin Delivery Service
Arc ID: 1567
Morality: Villainous
Level Range: 35-40
Factions: Tsoo, Family, Carnies, CoT, Freakshow, Council, PPD
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate, lots of Bosses but no EBs at all.
Synopsis : A routine late-night pawn shop robbery turns into a major ordeal when you pick up a mysterious little statue that everyone seems to want for themselves. You don't know what it does, why it's so important, or why you can't seem to just get rid of it.

I can't remember if you've run this one before. You'll know what I mean by creative contact when you start it.