Lemur Lad

Great news, felt bad for the people cut off.

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So, will the new forums allow us to post pictures and stuff like the guy did here? You'll have to scroll down a bit!

Hmpf, link wont go to the actual post, you will have to scroll down to see the photos.

And will we be able to put pictures in our Signatures too? You know.. big hulking sig pics that take up more space then the average post?

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I certainly hope not.

Lectures ain't easy with a hook-hand ARRRRRGH

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When the Mission Architect is released, a lot of novice writers are going to try their hand at writing new missions. What advice can you offer us? How do you create a gripping and meaningful story when the main character is a blank, to be filled in by the player, not the writer?

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Good question.

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How come you don't have a superhero name?

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Because his most famous creation is a villain. If he ever gets a forum name, it needs to be a villain

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My question would be, is there a chance to see some low level epic fights? What i mean is when your 10-15 you will almost never see a full fledged hero/av and it's cool fighting impossible odds at lowbie levels at times.

Like the capa TF your 15-20 fighting two AV's thats epic, or the first time fighting frost fire that seems epic so on and so forth.

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They're out there.

Welcome Bruce and thanks for taking time to answer questions. I've been a big fan of your's for a long time, still have several of your books on my shelf, and look forward to seeing your work here.

Some of the most interesting missions in this game have been written for villains. However at the same time there are complaints that many missions don't "feel villainous" particularly the ones in Cooperative zones. In the past some of your best work relates to great acts of super villainy. Have you given any thought so far to the sort's of things you'd like to do to make some Villainous feeling villain missions?

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Midnight Draws Near level 25-29 complete the Arc for the Thief of Midnight Badge

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I just wanted to add in case it hadn't been mentioned, do NOT do this arc with any settings that restrict your Access to Temporary Powers . "AT Powers Only" or "No Temp Powers" the next to last mission requires you to use the disguise power to talk to Ashley McKnight. You're barred from using it with those Challenge options. I wasted a big chunk of time doing it on challenge settings only to get messed up by this one, because I wasn't thinking ahead.

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- Reporter/photographer, just to play to the classics.

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...!

With people theorizing that zones will be revamped with new locations for Day Jobs, does this mean we'll finally see the Paragon Times building?

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Or the City Scoop shack (we're cheap on rent)

Athlete for logging off in the Arena.

Happy Birthday Snowy!

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QR

Folks, it's a guide. Agree or disagree, there's no need to tear the OP down. He didn't say that Doms or MMs are "gimp", he said they didn't bring speed to the SF. Whether you agree or disagree, that's not an unreasonable opinion.

MMs certainly have a lot of damage and debuffs/buffs, but they do require set up and more maintenance than joe average brute.

Doms are wicked players, played right, but they aren't usually considered the highest DPS.

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I'm not tearing him down for anything other than the fact that he thinks he has the fastest way, and that his knowledge is superior enough to exclude alternatives that other people run just as fast or faster every day.

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A) Someone who just wants a pat on the head for trying nitpick an otherwise solid guide, for the sake of lacking anything significant to add to the discussion.


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The primary issue people have with your guide is the fact that it's rigid, not solid.

Anyone can writeup a mission walkthru. That doesn't make your guide solid.
Lot's of people can lead a group and get the SF done fast.
Your rules and caveats about teambuidling aren't what make you get done quickly. It's the knowledge of how to get things done that you and your teammates bring to the table.

You just assume because your way works well, that it's somehow superior. All it is is self fulfilling prophecy leading to rigid thinking.

None of your team building rules are germaine to a quality guide. The best guides and methods acknowledge the merits of several approaches, and don't claim superior knowledge.

I keep saying it again and again, and you keep ignoring it. There's more than one way to skin a cat, you don't have the world's best cat skinner here. If you checked your ego at the door instead of trying to prove your way is superior, people would be willing to let you have your say uncountered.

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I don't sugar coat my guides to protect the delicate sensibilities of certain classes or powersets - I'm just going to give you a strait outline of the reality as it is.

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Too bad reality and your opinion are two different things and you don't seem to realize that.

Trust me, the fastest teams, even PuGs, most people know that which is what makes your insistence that your way is the only right way all the more amusing.

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QR

Why hasn't this been moved to the Guides forum?

Sometimes the mod behaviour is baffling.

Eco.

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It's a weekend. Many times they only put out fires and leave the mundane until Monday.

True enough Czar, I was mainly thinking in terms of heavy mitigation alpha soakers that dont have the abyssmal cooldown of the multi target Hold though.

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On Virtue, I have an Ice Psy Dom tricked out with IOs just for that specific strike force..

I am fully equipped with grant invis + teleport..

and befor i went on my vacation from the game.. I had the maps mesmorized

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But I want a successful CAP run...since you are a dominator, no invite for you! I only want brutes and corrupters in my CAP team. Even if I have to recruit for 2 hours, I don't want no stinking inefficiency in my CAP run.

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lol exactly my point.

For once I agree with Perfect Pain though. Yourself, plus someone you rely on, and 3-5 other people.

Having ultra specific rules about who and who not to take by definition means it's no longer a Pick Up Group. It means you're recruiting to fit your definition of min max.

My ideal team would be two Dominators clever enough to know how to alternate their alpha strike powers on groups, and three corruptors. Other than that, it would be the brute and the stalker that would "slow the team down" because they have to get into melee range to be effective whereas the ranged team can obliterate anything within 75 feet.

That does't mean I'll turn down willing players of other ATs, or sit around waiting for my ideal picks though. Shaving 5-10 minutes of mission time isn't worth spending 15-20 looking for the "right" person.

The thing about this game is there's more than one way to skin a cat.

You have the way you like to do it. It's not the only way, it's not even the best way.
It works for you, that's great. However most of the people I run with wouldn't follow any of your rules, even when filling a PuG.

Your comments about Doms are a clear illustration. Let's run it down by the numbers.

Earth Control- has Quicksand and Earthquake by level 20.
Fire Control- has Flashfire
Ice Control- has Ice Slick
Plant Control- has Seeds of Confusion

That leaves Gravity and Mind Control. Two out of six primaries that don't have significant AoE powers within the SF range. The ones I listed can mitigate most or all of the alpha or keep the enemies on a tight spot long enough for AoEs to wipe the spawns out in seconds.

That's just one of the ATs you insist is worthless. If I wanted to bother to take the time, I'd find reasons most of your other points are hogwash.

Guides that say "never invite" or "always bring" are [censored].

Third fastest CapSF I've ever run was All dominator.
Only one of the runs in my top 10 had a brute.

Buffs and Debuffs are key for most teams, if half your team buffs or debuffs, the rest of the team can be pretty much anything.

Truthfully though, the only real marker you need is number of people who know what they're doing. Most of the team knows what they're doing, and it's Easymode.

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Not a TF, but a SF. You would be hard pressed to find a cooler concept than Lemurs FreakOlympics SF.

(I thought I had that favorited but I cant find it gahh)

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Thank you for the kind words. I've been kicking around that idea again lately.
Heh, I should have looked at this thread sooner. I've reposted that a couple of times but purges eat it. Since this thread is stickied I'll put it back up for any who are interested:

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I am playing the Freaklympics arc as a duo with a friend of mine, and this came to me all of a sudden.

It's a new season of Chaos, and Lord Recluse has deemed that this year, his Destined Ones should be free to sow more seeds of discontent in Paragon City. The Freaks are beginning to set up a new round of the Freaklympics, and special arrangements are being made for outsiders to participate. The Strike force would be in the 30-40 range, and consist of a string of special Mayhem missions. Some outdoors in new areas of Paragon City, and others indoors in sensitive facilities with lots of smashable gear.

Some features of the SF:
POINTS! of course points must be a major component. Each mission in the chain would have many of the things we're used to in Mayhems, timers, time bonuses, etc. However there would be points to be earned for many different things along the way. Points for taking out heroes, points for capturing weapons, points for defacing property (ses below), points for scaring civilians (see below again). All these points would add up. The more you get, the more rewards you get to pick from at the end (think of it like the end of a story arc or a respec TF). And also the more points, the better your badge. Bronze Silver and gold Freak medals of course, and they would work like the X times the victor badge. With a costume piece attached to each one.

Defacing property- everyone on the team will get a temp power of a pain sprayer and the ability to tag different buildings as they proceed. Yeah kinda a direct rip from GTA, but it makes sense. The logo sprayed would be one randomly assigned based on your SF name.

Scaring the sheep- the citizens hate Freaklympic time of year. Lot's of players ask for the chance to kill civis, but I think a chaos driven mayhem like this would be a nice time to not kill them but have a method for scaring them off.

Busting down the gates- at least one transition from a mission to another should be an assault on one of the Hazard gates, guarded by Police Drones. For the purpose of the SF they would be a pair of Elite bosses, and one of their attacks would be a direct teleport into the jail for that map (very long recharge, normal defenses and resists to TP Foe apply).

Inside missions- one of the more creative aspects of this SF would be to have a mayhem environment indoors. Similar to Lab Equipment and Vault Doors, but with more objects laying about as well. Smashable catwalks and floor grates, etc.

Time Out! The time limit should not be as strict as a regular mayhem, and your success on a given mission should add to your base time limit for the next. However if you do run out of time, you should be forced to complete an additional mission. Breaking out of the Zig (again). This time your team is on it's own. All temp powers have been stripped for the duration of the mission, and you're all wearing ugly orange jumpsuits until you can get to the property room on your way out.

Competition- Some or all of the missions should have the potential for Time/point penalties. Either losses guaged by trips to the precinct house, or objects taken by competing teams before you get to them. Somewhat like Safeguard missions, I see Hotspot battles with other Freakshow (and other guest star) teams.

Finale? I honestly have no idea who you should face. I was thinking that Paragon City Heroes, Civic Squad, the PPD, should all be part of each and every earlier mission (this SF would be a boon for people seeking Hero Slayer). They would be at the Boss and possibly Elite Boss levels, but as for the Hero ranks foe(s) at the end, I can't really say. Possibly someone we've not seen before. I think the scenario for the final mission should be some kind of assault on a Parade or a City event. Maximum chaos, maximum publicity, maximum POINTS!!

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Since this original post I've had a couple ideas about structure. I normally hate getting specific because it just limits Dev creativity, and is less likely to get implemented, but I had some specific mission ideas that I think have strong Awesome Potential:

The SF could be truly modular, you form your team gather at a Black Chopper, and are whisked to Perez Park (an instanced map), the gather point for the events. It could possibly even be a mini zone, like the O-zone, so you see other teams heading off to do different missions for the SF, as well as NPC teams leaving and arriving. Could have fun min-zone events like cops who follow teams back and try to break things up, or disqualified teams so mad they just start tering things up.

Anyway, at the gather point, you pick the missions and the order you do them. The contact offers a choice of 4, you pick one, do it, come back. Pick another. At that point, your contact bar is fuller and he's prepared to offer the finale. This adds to replayability in that you don't see all the missions in one run, and you can choose what you do based on your team.

The 4 mission ideas would correspond to the 4 areas adjoining Perez Park.

Steel Canyon- School's out Forever! Bash through the hazard gate, and work your way over to the PCU campus. Break into the buildings and SMASH, or burn! Foes: Midnighters and/or Civic Squad. I see it as lots of indoor smashy smashy.

Atlas Park- Bulls in a China Shop- Heroes often wonder how Azuria keeps her job when stuff she's supposed to keep gets taken so much. Villains wonder how they can get a shot at the stuff. Now's their chance. Break into the zone and work over to either City Hall itself, or a nearby warehouse. Foes: PPD and Azuria herself. Ourdoor and Indoor, in an iconic location.

Skyway City- Last stop, end of the line! Bash through the hazard gate to rampage through skyway worse than any Troll Rave yet seen. Head for the Tram station and demolish it. This would be the biggest upgrade, since we don't have destructible buildings at present. Foes: Supatrolls (just happened to be running through), PPD, Mynx or Synapse.

Galaxy City- Backalley Beatdown! I have no idea for a good goal for this one, maybe the destruction of one of the giant hero statues. Better yet, the Arena Building! The long and the short of it would be, Backalley Brawler steps off the podium to lay the smackdown on your team. Much fun could be had by spawning lots of newbie heroes that charge you having no idea why that's a bad idea. Foes: BaB, newbi heroes (gray con fluff) and Longbow.

Finale- I still have no ideas. If your team is successful you've wiped out chunks of the core of the city, so I'm not sure how to top it.

Note- all these missions would be instanced versions of the real maps, just in case that wasn't clear. Not advocating PvP in open zones.
Note- Would be awesome if teams could access City Info Terminals on each map and see News Alerts or Freak Pirate Broadcasts listing Team standings (all player teams that have done the SF that day, and their point totals).

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Ah! That's who I meant to PM my massive, massive list of questions too!

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Questions are good, just be aware a "massive list" will be less likely to get you answers.

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The destruction of Astoria


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My dream scenario for this is a modern take on the zone, where the Midnighters and heroes try to reclaim the zone, while villains sneak in to cause mischief (special new Mayhem mission, Strike Force, and Trial).

On top of that an Ouroboros arc that let's us witness the darkening, and do what little we can to prevent the spread of that disaster beyond the boundaries of the zone.

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1: Love that the Scoop keeps getting bigger.

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Don't expect that trend to continue. This issue was laid out by two people. Sanity and time constraints will tend to force smaller issues. This one likely is the result of next week's US Holiday.


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Yeah, we've learned that bigger is not always better. We have a comfortable limit on how much we can put out in any given week, and when everything gets done at once, it really puts a strain on Mantid, Snow_Globe, and Dirtwolf.

There also ends up being a kind of writer's ennui that creeps over us afterwards. We're almost at the stage wher we can have 2 crews on alternate weeks, and when everyone meets deadline at the same time, then everyone kind of takes the next week off, and we're left scrambling to fill pages.

We're slowly finding the happy spot. It looks like when the Scoop is 7-10 pages, that makes almost everyone happy.

If you want more and more every week, I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment. However if you realize that a slightly smaller Scoop each week means less burn out and that we're here for a much longer time, it's a good thing.

MT and I and everyone who started the Scoop have always wanted this to be something that lasts. Keep talking to us here about how we can get you more of what you want without killing our volunteers, and we'll do our best.

I wanted to let folks know I have a few PMs from last week that I forgot to send answers for. I apologize and will be sending replies tonight or tomorrow.

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I'm not keen on NCSoft having total control, as I think in general their priorities don't match with the priorities we've seen in the game in the past.

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I'm curious. Where have you seen a conflict between NC Soft and Cryptic in the past?

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They don't have their discussions in public, so naturally I haven't. However, I have noticed how much the community reps have pushed PvP, and I think NCSoft generally - due to its experience mostly being in East Asian grindfests - favours PvP, grind and phat lewt.
I'm not saying that I think we'll soon be City of Lineage but I do worry about there being a paradigm shift in where development is centered. I'm reserving judgement really though.

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A) you're confusing NCSoft North America with the South Korean parent again, don't. They have very little to do with operational tendencies in the NA company, and nothing at all to do with design decisions on American products.

B) the community reps are showing they like PvP, because hey they're people with opinions! Importantly though, they're people with a solid track record of listening to our opinions too, and not trying to beat the drum more than is appropriate.

Basically you have to ask yourself, do you like the direction the game has moved in the last year? That's the way its going to continue to go for pretty much another year. There will be some additions and changes I'm certain, but the core people we know and love will be there doing the same jobs they've had. New people onboard will be just that, new. They won't be team leads making huge decisions anytime soon.

As for the company, they wouldn't be making such a big change and investment if they didn't believe in the people and tactics that have made the game successful to date.

NCSoft has shown it's not afraid to shut down a game it thinks isn't going to thrive. And yesterday they showed they have the smarts to promote and invest in a game that could thrive a lot more with some added TLC.