LordXenite

Because it's supposed to be a Virtual Universe inside a Virtual Universe?

Besides, the AE Browser lets you filter Arcs based on morality, and isn't there a new expansion that's all about Going Rogue, switching morality and taking your character on the road to redemption or condemnation?

EDIT :: Ummm sorry, thanks for the catch Yogi Bare

/signed but I too wouldn't hold my breath, there's a lot of work to be done on other AE sub-systems before this even gets to go to the bottom of the barrel for the design-queue.

You basically have to locate and revise those fields.

I know there have been several changes to the in-game text system (both input and output), so using colours in dialogs for example is largely broken if you're using keybind files. I also know macros specifically are having issues, although since I don't use them, as I use binds instead, I'm not sure what these issues are exactly.

Not having NPC speech bubbles come up, that's something new for me actually, so it would be a good idea to test and see if NPC speech bubbles come up when you play published story-arcs?

If you want to offer rewards and still have people testing with you, you could publish the arc, collect a team, do some test-runs on the published arc and unpublish the arc when you don't want people to play it.

I will say however that even though I thought my published story-arc is complete, PoliceWoman reviewed it and convinced me there's a lot more work that I could (and probably should) do to not just polish, but rather flesh out the story in it. This means I'll probably have to lose the rating and the ID of the Arc, but that's OK too, I've gotten used to the idea that I'd have to publish/unpublish and republish some Arcs eventually.

If you reach the last mission in my Story Arc, I think you'd remember... give it a try

It was awesome the first time through, so much so that I think I'll hop on it again, possibly with my TriFormShade™ this time around!

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if you do ur K-contacts mish, solo em n try to wrap them up before u lf team.

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I definitely agree because I like to go slowly and read stuff about the story, clues, dialogs and the characters I'm fighting, both with in-game story-arcs that I want to experience, and of course MA arcs.

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...I want to make sure it's right and that people are going to enjoy it.

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That's the most difficult goal you can aspire to accomplish with any content one creates. Good luck.

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Technical question: What I would like to do is have mission four dependent upon success/failure of mission three. Basically, if the players fail, mission four happens as normal, but if they succeed, mission four is skipped. Is there a way to do this?

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This cannot be done with the current MA, and perhaps we will not be able to ever do this at all.

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I've got a custom enemy group (themed lackeys of my mastermind character), and I want to make sure the difficulty is on par with what people expect. Is having the minion and LT powersets on hard a bad idea?

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As a general rule, I'd go on record saying that if you set Minions and Lieutenant power-combinations to anything that's different than the normal in-game mobs have, you may create a nightmare for your players. Consider for example Minions that have debuffing power-sets, even when set on the lowest setting, those Minions, since they appear in large quantities for a team, may cause a lot of trouble and certain AT's may not be able to take that even soloing your missions.

However, some AT's can take custom-critters head no matter the power-sets as long as the critter is a Minion/Lieutenant and players using those AT's may look down on your critters and think you're Story Arc is not enough of a challenge. In short, you can't please'em all.

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I have two mid-arc bosses. Should they be elite or normal bosses? I'm afraid at high levels normal bosses will be too easy for a "powerful foe."

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That's a matter of personal choice really. For myself, I try to never use EB/AV enemies unless the story itself requires it. In other words, if I'm making a Story Arc for the sake of the story, I let the story determine what enemies should be in the missions.

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The final boss of the arc will be a mastermind, and I'm thinking he should be an AV. Could the combo of MM and AV be too difficult?

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That depends on what power-set/difficulty-setting combination you use. If you make it a Nercomancy/WillPower AV set on the highest difficulty setting on both powers, it could be such a nightmare some people may never want to play your story again, and others would absolutely love it! This too, depends on what AT's and builds the team brings to play your story.

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I've added an ally to the last mission. Is the mission failed if the ally dies? If the boss is an AV, what should the ally be? Elite Boss or just Boss?

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The mission will fail if and only if you've actually set that Ally as a goal that is required for the completion of the mission, and the player(s) let the Ally die.

About the level that an Ally should be to balance an EB/AV in the last finale fight, that also depends on the internal balance of combat you're going for. For example, I have a mission where the end-boss is a tough EB, but the Ally I put in there is a DarkMelee/TrickArrow Lieutenant (with TA set on Hard or Extreme). This was done so that the player(s) should actually keep the Ally alive if they want to benefit from her debuffs against the EB. This of course means that the player(s) have to constantly pay attention to the Ally and make sure she doesn't die because the AI was too dumb and brought her into melee range of the EB.

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Thanks in advance.

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Enjoy the game and the creation process, and I hope I've helped a tad.

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As you can see from all the unnecessary arguing/fingerpointing/I'm right you're wrong nonsense here in the forums...
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The mood isnt great...

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Well, this is an Internet Forum, of course there's going to be unnecessary arguing/finger pointing/I'm Right You're Wrong nonsense, I'd be surprised to find anything else

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Enjoy the game! I know I am.

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Yup, enjoy the game, I'm enjoying it too, especially when I get feedback comments from people playing my Story Arc despite it being buried in who-knows-where page in the Arc Browser.

The Cysts themselves are not the problem. The problem is when Cysts show up close to enemies that you have to be in melee to defeat, because as more team members close in to melee the enemies, more fluffy balls of purple death come out of the Cyst.

Each of these Cyst-pets essentially slows down whatever it attacks so if you cannot take out all the pets at once, or rapidly take out the Cyst, the team may wipe and the enemy-group spawn may be aggro and kill you. It's worse of course when the enemy-group spawn contains AV's!

Just for the record, I totally agree with what you said in your original post.


This...
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there are exceptions to the rule that all women on the internet are little boys, but that dosent mean men should open up and end up getting arrested or hitting on something they dont want.

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So, why is there one right here in the middle of this Hydra infested swamp again?

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Well, I think the Devs should at least explain how the Cyst got there in the first place...

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I've wanted a CoV WS for so long and now soon I'll have it. Oh sure I lose my lv 35 on my all Kheld SG, but c'mon certain powers scream villainous intent.

[/ QUOTE ]You do know squids may grow new tentacles, right?

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I like em

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Me too. However, the one that came with the last spawn of Mary, or the one near Doc Aeon on a MoSTF run I could do without.

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/signed!

Just logged in to find this private message: "Feedback on Architect Mission Childhood Horrors: Nice story, excelleent arc to play. Well told throughout, good choice of bad guys and maps, the final mish was great, good fights and getting to see states as 'the giver of bunnies' was priceless - bravo."

You've made my day @Beanstalk1.

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Are you prepared to argue that it's acceptable to cast the player as a moron?

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I watched a movie the other night that in my opinion, does exactly that. The whole movie would fail to create its intended suspense and build-up in the viewer if the viewer was not taken as a moron and constantly lied to.

After the plot-twist has been unveiled, the only way I could reconcile myself with the events as they truly happened, was to say that since the story was told from the point of view of a flawed psyche, it was OK that I as a viewer was not shown the true version of events.

I dislike being lied to, but this movie was a lie only in the sense that there was no way that the Heroine could know the true nature of the events around her and since I was watching the movie from essentially her point of view, this had to be allowed for the movie to work.

I think the same suspension of disbelief has to be extended to Story Arcs as well. However, I duly recognize that this suspension of disbelief cannot be granted to every Story Arc that casts the Player as a moron, but only to those that make being a moron pleasant and entertaining in the service of a good story.

After all Venture, as far as I understand from our posts, you disliked my notions of giving players gameplay choices in Story Arcs, so how can you object to being cast as a moron in order to play through a Story Arc?

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...I kinda wanted a Jack of All but they were just a bit off I wanted a bit more control and a better pet along with some melee and ranged attacks, so you could guess what I rolled when CoV came out.

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Wow... you just described my Lv50 TriFormShade™, she stuns, holds, suck endurance self-buffs and has more than 2 (sometimes 3) pets that DPS and debuff the enemies.

Yes, it wasn't an easy journey to Lv50, but by her late 20's and early 30's she already blossomed nicely as my strategies for her matured (not surprisingly coinciding with me discovering how to rebind my NUMPAD keys for her).

Oddly enough, I also rolled SoA's... but they've basically been sitting and gathering dust as I find their gameplay rather boring.

As a Lv12 Warshade, contemplate the following:

1. Nova form improves your ToHit (9.0% unslotted according to Mid's).
2. Most (if not all) of your attacks does -speed;-recharge.
3. Gravimetric Snare is an Immobilize!
4. Hasten can speed up your Nova attacks if you clicked it before going Nova.
5. Know what team-buffs you get from each team-member.
6. Teaming with a tank means you can usually blast things around the Tank without fear.

The following partly-built Warshade is essentially a Nova-centric Blaster, although the build itself intentionally does not use the respec trick to slot Nova powers earlier than they are available.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Squid: Level 12 Science Warshade
Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast
Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ebon Eye -- Acc(A), EndRdx(5)
Level 1: Absorption -- ResDam(A)
Level 2: Gravimetric Snare -- Acc(A), EndRdx(3), EndRdx(3)
Level 4: Shadow Bolt -- Acc(A), EndRdx(5)
Level 6: Dark Nova -- EndMod(A)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(9), RechRdx(9)
Level 10: Starless Step -- Acc(A)
Level 12: Sunless Mire -- Acc(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Dark Sustenance
Level 1: Shadow Step -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Shadow Recall -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 6: Dark Nova Bolt -- EndRdx(A)
Level 6: Dark Nova Blast -- Acc(A), Acc(11), EndRdx(11)
Level 6: Dark Nova Emanation -- Acc(A), Acc(7)
Level 6: Dark Nova Detonation -- Acc(A), Acc(7)

If you play with the build above, team with a Tank, you can let the Tank jump in, gather some aggro, then hit Hasten, jump in with the Tank, hit Sunless Mire, use Gravimetric Snare to immobilize any runners, then jump back (and into the air), while shifting to Nova so you can blast the heck out of what's left.

Also remember that the first two Nova attacks are single-target and recharge pretty fast on their own. They can continuously slow down an enemy that is chasing you (kiting) so you can use that to your advantage against strong enemies that are melee-oriented because more often than not, their ranged attacks, if they have any, will fall behind your range as a Nova.

I also recommend learning about binds and using them. Take for example a bind that will shift you to Human-form and fire off a Gravimetric Snare attack... this bind can used as you're dive-bombing an enemy and once the enemy is immobilized, you can switch to Nova again and blast it while Gravimetric Snare is recharging!

Being a TriFormShade™ isn't easy, but it sure is fun with the right strategies.

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For an eight-man team against a one-man spawn that shouldn't be too hard.
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For bonus points, send in a level 1 first, then bring in seven 50s.

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Well, even James T. Kirk had to cheat to beat this challenge, so I guess this can be considered acceptable...

Libra: Ruthless villains controlling the balance of power is not having a good effect on you, better check out Arc #5349 and restore things to their proper course.

Faction(s): Arachnos, Council, Custom
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Xenite Blackthread, @LordXenite
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate, designed to be solo able by any AT
Mission Levels: 45~50
Estimated Time to Play: 30 Minutes to an Hour.
Synopsis: The story of Ms. Liberty and the feud between Lord Recluse and Statesman as it is exposed by the player when Lord Recluse’s recent scheme, to exact revenge on Statesman through Ms. Liberty and every other Hero in Paragon City, is discovered! Can you and your team stop the diabolical Mind-Web Virus??

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It's more about the amount of inf I would have to pour into the triform build to make it viable.

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The simple thing to say about this issue is that for the most part (excluding AE custom enemies) the game is still balanced around our characters using Single Origin enhancements!

This means that an SO-based build actually is effective, if you first figure out what playstyle you prefer with your Kheldian and then build and slot it accordingly.

Even more so, frankenslotting Kheldians with cheap IO-set enhancements can help you be more effective with your playstyle and still not cost millions of INF, unless you're buying those crazy good recipes off the market which is what frankenslotting isn't about.

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I can learn to master the binds and switches and all of that if it's worth the effort.

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I wouldn't dream of playing my Kheldians without their binds, and if you gave me the choice between playing a purpled-out build with no binds or an SO'ed build with great binds, I'd take those binds any day of the week.

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I'm just not that built up inf-wise on my 50s that it would take a short amount of time to get the inf together to really put the +rech into the triform.

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I won't lie to you and say that +Recharge isn't beneficial to Kheldians, but honestly, they have so many possibilities across their 3 forms, that even when my Kheldians had nothing but SO's in them, or were frankenslotted, they were still running great. From my experience, I have found that Kheldians aren't about +Recharge, they are about knowing the game mechanics and how to meet each threat with the best sequence of forms/attacks.

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Plus, I just don't like the way the squid looks.

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Sorry to hear that, and I have to say that this may be the one reason not to play a Kheldian, but that reason only means something when it's used as the sole reason why not to play Kheldians...

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I will probably end up speccing into something triform that works towards the big damage build even though I don't intend to farm all that much. Just seems to me what the at was meant to be, and it would be nice for joining door mish teams and helping friends out by doing big damage.

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In my opinion, there's more to Kheldians than mere DPS. They can tank, debuff, perform some crowd control functions, and if you build for it, even heal, protect and revive teams members. I'm not saying that one should neglect their DPS, but I am saying that when a Kheldian is properly built, DPS is merely one option, not the only one.

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...you'll come across a cyst.

....and realize you can basically solo it.

While the rest of the team watches.

[/ QUOTE ]You know... I only get trouble from Cysts when the team actually decides to help get rid of the Cyst before I get there...

Luckily though, between having Superspeed and self-teleport powers... I usually get to the Cysts before the team does. In the ITF though, that's a bit different, but sometimes I get really excited and so if I kill a Cyst before the team finishes handling the previous Cysts' ambush, I'm faced with angry Cim's all over, which on my WS is always fun and profit, but with my PB it usually means it's Dwarf'in Time!! (never took Lightform, as I'm afraid of crashes)

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*Warning I am a well known human form only and medicine pool (A.K.A. Defendershade) hater*

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It's Shadefender! No wonder you get it all wrong

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An all Kheldian team sounds pretty awesome. What is your guys requirements?

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The only requirement is that you not be allergic to debt...

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I am always hesitant to switch severs, I have a good SG and awesome friends on Triumph.

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Currently, our SG night is Thursday, and we have several members who check in with us on Thursdays only. We'd especially love it if you brought some of your friends to Infinity with you and take a chance on All-Kheldian teams on Thursday nights.

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Is LordXenite your global?

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My global is @Xenite Blackthread.