Red_Zero

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Were the winterlord power levelers punished ?

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A statement denouncing the exploitation of this bug was issued. It is what in professional terms would be called a Verbal Reprimand, which is a formal form of punishment. Further steps were taken to prevent this from happening again. It was very bad, but it pales in comparison to what was happening in the AE. People were just as upset then and considered it punishment.

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The Wolf Farmers ?

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Rocks were given to the wolves. Burn got nerfed. Powers got changed. Eventually a mission timer was added to make sure the mission expired. I believe that later on the actual untimed mission was removed from the game to prevent players who still had it open from being able to continue exploiting it. This was a bit of a learning curve for the Devs, to be sure, and many people saw the steps they took as punishment.

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The people that 6 slotted hasten ?

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This is a non-starter. This was not an exploit. This is just how the whole system worked. People 6 slotted almost everything because it made practical sense.

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Just to make it clear punishing other people for your shortcomings is problematic.

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Taking advantage and exploiting the shortcomings of others is bad behavior, looked down upon, and is punished in general when it is discovered.

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It was both that and disingenuous.

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There was nothing disingenuous about it and it was not "a hissy fit."

Is anytime anyone with authority rebukes another person's bad behavior a "hissy fit"?

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Yes so banning people who have leveled up to fast does what for the business investement and the desire to keep people playing ?

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It shows a commitment to maintaining the established and intended structure of the game and prevents such exploitative practices from being thought of as the norm or status quo. It establishes this commitment to be elevated above any short term profit loss, and gives integrity to the game as a whole.

And you never answered my questions.
Do you really expect that there would not be any punitive measures taken? No denouncement of bad and exploitative practices and behavior issued?

Show me someone who is perfect, and I will show you a fraud.

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If I were I wouldn't want one that throws a hissy fit because people don't get his vision.

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What I object to is this portrayal of Positron's post as a "hissy fit" because it is most certainly was not.

Postitron IS an authority OF the game.

Positron HAS a very real business investment and interest in the game to maintain the game's balance and integrity.

Part of that investment IS to maintain the game's structured risk vs reward balance and detour exploitation.

The Player Base HAS been warned in the past that there could be consequences for pursuit and exploitation of bugs and oversights.

Egregious exploitative offenses WERE committed that violated this structure and balance to an extreme.

Do you really expect that there would not be any punitive measures taken? No denouncement of bad and exploitative practices and behavior issued? These are NOT rhetorical questions.

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Not to derail the topic, but it occurred to me reading that article that the drive that tends to improve quality of real life is the same drive that causes this to happen. We seek the most rewards for the least effort seemingly by instinct. That's beneficial to us in the real world, but makes for a poor game.

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It's not always beneficial to us in the real world either unfortunately. It is inherent to nature, human or otherwise. That does not mean that it is always a good thing. Too rich of a reward for too little effort leads to corruption and corrosion.

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People, generally, only consider media biased when it contradicts or is at odds with their existing world view.
.
If you read that article and felt it was biased then it was not written for you.

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I have no idea what your trying to get at or what your point was.

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Free to play the game as they like, players frequently make choices that ruin the fun. It’s an irony that can prove death to game publishers: Far from loving their liberty, players seem to quickly bore of the “ideal” games they’ve created for themselves and quit early.

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That's literally the bottom line right there.

*GAH!* I just took a look at the height slider on the bosses and it was maxed out. It wasn't suppose to be maxed out.
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Proof for what reason? Magent Network certainly knows that I was there. Was it proof for all the other Crick'cK?

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Yes. It is for proof to the Crick'cK that the warships were dealt with.
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Simplest way is a Boss Detail set to appear at the front of the map, set to be required, and set to appear after another objective is completed. That way you face them on the way to the entrance (which you would tell the player in the objective). Maybe move the Queen boss there and have her spawn after you plant the bomb with the message that she's going to personally see that you don't get off of the ship?

[/ QUOTE ]
That might work, I will have to test that to see how well it plays out.

Thank You, Lazarus.
I appreciate your time and effort in reviewing the Mission Arc.
Looks like the Story came through very solidly. There are some oversights that I will need to edit in or out. No big surprises which is good. I appreciate your insight on reviewing the Mission Arc. This is stuff I just can't get back from an in-game tell.

In Mission 1:
*Scarlet's dry breifing was suppose to come off as "this is just a run of the mill procedural task" formality. It sounds though like that was overachieved.
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However, the Tar Beetles just don't look like they belong at all to me. They're much too big and brutish compared to the other small, graceful looking creatures. The boss that I defeated was a bit overly large as well.

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*Point Taken.
*I originally had 2 versions: Tar Beetles and Tar Flies. I had to save file space so I took out the Tar Flies because even as standard minions, their debuffs were too much when combined with the rest of the Custom Group. Sounds like I took out the wrong one. Easy fix to just swap out the costume.
*The bosses are suppose to be visibly a bit bigger ("they're bigger and that's why they're in charge"-type logic). While colony insects do often have various members who vary in size fairly greatly with in the same species, it sounds like they are just too much visibly bigger. (causes a fracture in the suspension of disbelief needed in any good story)

In Mission 2:
*The Omega Class stuff is just a formality flavor text. Even though any hero would have it by now, proper procedure in handling classified info is always to verify.
*Maggie Hayes is suppose to be the one person the Crick'cK that was successfully captured for study. All others potential captives where freed in the first mission. This looks like this needs more foreshadowing.
*Yes, If you're a "squishy" (like I am) it is rather challenging. (have thought about changing the Golden Bugs Fire Control out, which would solve a lot of it.) I have been taken down a few times on test runs when I am not being particularly careful >_<
*Comm Device. Point Taken. It will be changed to "Seize Any Alien Tech"

In Mission 3:
*Red Alpha is a Robotics mastermind who has robotic strength augmentation in his body armor. This fact is missing from his description because I didn't think it important at this time. It would be relevant in later Mission Arcs. Easy enough to add in.
*Red Alpha only summons drones because I did not want him to overshadow the Player(s). This is one of the reasons why the Assault Bots are separate.
*The second reason the Assault Bots are separate is to highlight the Player as a Tactical Leader during the mission. These are your robots putting you in charge.
*Yes, the glowies do have a loonnngg click time. This was to "simulate" the incredible amount of data that was suppose to downloaded. It is not intended that it be annoying, but I can definitely see how that can appear. I'll take another look at it.

In Mission 4:
*Mission 4 was added as an afterthought to fill in a plot hole, which it appears to have done so nicely.
*The scouting party that is breaking out is suppose to be another scouting group. I like your idea of it being the original scouting group, as that takes out added baggage and would add to continuity.
*Police station maps rock. Good, small, to the point, solid.

In Mission 5:
*You have to defeat the boss in order to get her "Dragonfly Tags". This is never mentioned in the mission briefing and it should be, as it is important. The Tags represent physical proof that you were aboard the ship. I thought it was handled with a Clue drop, but that clearly isn't sufficient as it is After-the-Fact.
*If getting back to the mission exit was an available triggerable Mission Objective Option, I would add it to the mission. If you can tell me how, I am all ears.
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I'm informed that Red Alpha didn't make it (wait, he was right there with me) out of the ship in time and was lost in the explosion. I guess the author wanted to have some sense of tragedy for the heroes.

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*That is the gist of it. Not entirely accurate though. I can't tell if your intentionally obscuring what really happened at the end for the purpose of drama or if you just misread that very last detail. It IS meant as being a tragedy in any case.

Once again, Thank You.

Horror to Puzzles/Riddles

I have had to split up the list in order to post a revision, otherwise, I get an error. This is now in two parts.

Horror
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Astoria in D Minor (41565) -- Heroic
Dark Dreams (3615)
D!E COUNT DADDY MACULA D!E! (10619) -- Heroic (1970's Action/Horror)
Don't Play With The Dead (31813) -- Neutral
The Amulet of J'gara (1709) -- Heroic
Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit (#3586) - Neutral (Unless you happen to be a mad cultist, in which case, go nuts!)
Small Fears -- Heroic
Lights, Camera, Scream! (#68627) - 3 Mission arc that get's you into the B-Horror film circuit.
Duality --Heroic -- 84105
Hunting the Hunters --Villainous -- 93362 - Help a vampire find out who is hunting his people
Creepy Crawlers - Arc ID: 82553 (Lv 41 - 52, a short, solo-friendly ghost story. Best played alone.)
I Will Dance On Your Grave - Arc ID 92630 – Any level, no EBs or AVs, Voodoo, Necromancy
Movie Monster Madness.. - 102058
Something Comes to Yarmouth(58812) - Heroic, levels 25+ (masearch link)
*
The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force: Something wicked this way comes.


Large-Scale Crisis
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Alpha and Omega (60015) -- Heroic
Is it Live or is it Memory-X - Arc ID #70210 - Heroic
This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral
Win the Past, Own the Future - Heroic
A Warrior's Friend - Heroic
The Clockwork War -- Heroic (18672)
Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor (20272) -- Neutral
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 1, Neutral (15006)
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....ue#Post13304513
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 2, The Terran Revolt, Neutral (46711)
url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=13304455&an=0&am p;page=0#Post13304455
Bleed the Freak - Arc ID #6919 - Heroic
The All-Seeing Eye - Arc ID #57352 - Heroic [SFMA, Soloable, No EB/AVs, Auto-SK to 30/41)
*

Magic
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The Magical Miss Fitz (5079) -- Heroic
Chains of Blood (5492) -- Heroic
A Deal with Destiny -- Heroic
The Broken Chain (82378) -- heroic
Croatoa's Great War: The Parfait Family Reunion -- Neutral -- 71880
Rex is Missing! - Heroic - 51702
The Tannhäuser Gate (Arc 96322)
I Will Dance On Your Grave - Arc ID 92630 – Any level, no EBs or AVs, Voodoo, Necromancy
Deal with The Devil's Pawn Heroic (#113615)
*

Military
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Redoubt Operations #1: Fires over Kalago -- Heroic
Red Typhoon (Arc 4912) -- Heroic
Whitehawks (Arc 49364) -- Heroic
Axis and Allies -- Villainous (1379)
Vanguard AQUA (58475) -- Neutral
Wings of Deception, 101926
*

Misc. Adventure
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Impossible Kung Fu Mission -- Nuetral (111367)
The Portal Bandits (3326) -- Heroic
A Glitch in the Wyre- Arc 73197-- Neutral (Fun for both the good kids and the bad kids too!)
The Council Cargo - Arc ID: 36951 (Heroic, Lv 26 - 31, solo or team)
Hero Therapy! (TM) - 119228
The Second Coming of the Mega Mech - Heroic (122274)
*


Mystery
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Blowback (18575) -- Heroic
Dream Paper -- Heroic (13030)
Dream Paper 2: Restless Sleep -- Heroic (16797)
Dream Paper 3: Broken Dreams -- Heroic (13064)
Hunter of Beasts: It begins with a riot... Arc ID: 110465 - Heroic
Females for Hire - Neutral (Heroic and/or Mercenary motivations) (110723)
*

Mythology
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Atlantis Attacks! -- Neutral (30898) -- Click for Promotional Poster
The Seelie War -- Heroic
The Unseelie War -- Villainous
[b] The Seeds of Yggdrasil[b/] -- heroic
Tales of Cimerora, volume 1 : Of feathers and fur -- Heroic
The Aegis Affair - Heroic - **** - 16376
Witches and Warriors (53006)- Heroic
Rites of the Maenads (61159) - Heroic
The Parable of the Fruit Salad -- Heroic -- 65369
The Eye of Balor (88176) - Heroic
Madness And The Minotaur - Neutral - 90124
The Four Treasures of the Tuatha De Danaan - #164100 - Heroic
*

Nemesis Plots
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Brass Reaver: Part 1 -- Neutral
The Handbag Plot -- Heroicish -- 36414
Rise and Fall of the Iron General -- Heroic -- 142200
*

Player-Chosen Outcome
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Hunting the Dark Dragon -- Heroic
Playing Gods -- Heroic (51106)
Time's Maelstrom -- Heroic #147296
*

Public Domain Characters/Literature
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The Praetorian Invasion of the Land of Oz - Heroic (Contains at least one AV on each mission. Last mission has 3 (but with two helper EBs)
*

Sci-Fi
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Above Mars - Part 1: The Wellington -- Neutral (13215)
Adventures of the Space Marines -- Neutral
Adventures of the Space Marines 2 -- Neutral
The Adventures of the United Earth Rangers -- Neutral (29549)
The Continuing Adventures of the United Earth Rangers -- Neutral (70237)
The Final Nemesis
The Fracturing of Time -- Heroic (171031)
The Knights of Rularuu -- Heroic (75386)
[color= #bbff88]Reach for the Stars -- Neutral (78904) [/color]
Spaced Invaders --Heroic(56856)
That Mysterious Buzzing Sound - 12774
The Nemesis Theory - 171203 - Villainous
The Balance of Power - 26931 - Neutral
welcome to donut world - 1233 heroic
City of the Apes - 171184 Heroic
*

Un-themed Survival/AV/Time Challenges
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The Meatgrinder -- Neutral
*

Puzzles/Riddles
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Grim Riddles (#1396) - Heroic
*

[ QUOTE ]

To have an enjoyable time whenever I play CoH?

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Definately this one. Excessive Greed is rarely rewarded without severe and unforseen consequences. Everything else will come in its own due time.

Think about it:
Always getting picked up by the perfect PUG.

Being in an SG who's players actually keep getting along and don't quit the game at the first hint of nerf.

Ace'ing the STF and LRSF with a less than optimal character and getting the badge awarded for no one in the team dieing and just by the pixels on your character's teeth.

Pick up IO Recipes at reasonable prices at Wentworths or the Black Market.

Finding the most interesting stories on the Mission Architect and playing them bug free.

Meet interesting people on the interwebs with interesting original characters and play with them.

Be Expy Leech Free!

Never, Ever, EVAR having to hear someone ask for an anchor or bridge or the word or initials for Power Level again!

ah..... *Dreams*

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I've played a character from 1-50 on both sides, more than once. Why should I make a new character that I intend to play in high level content, only to wind up having to grind uphill and repeat the same old snakes or clockwork missions? If anything, repeating the same slow 1-50 journey makes me want to play the newer characters less than the higher level ones.

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Oh honestly! What do you think the Mission Architect was built for? As if the Mission Architect provides no mission, story, or new enemy content from 1 to 49?!

And are you just gonna solo content at 50? Because if your just a Power Leveled character with no player experience behind that character I would not want you on any team I am on! There is a vast chasm between a P.L.ed Player and a Player who has taken their lumps and put in the time behind a Character which can become very apparent, very quickly on a Team setting.

Instant Gratification is not the norm, nor should it be.

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Ok, imagine World Wide Red told in five missions, using only the maps that arc uses. (And without the giant robots, because NOOOO, they can't just limit them to outdoor maps, we can't have them at all.)

Now image the RWZ storyline told in five missions, with all those "cool new maps" it has. (Which we've all seen a zillion times unlocking the Midnight Club.)

Which is the better story?

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That depends: which one is being written in the 19th century?

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Anything written in the 19th Century for CoX would be a Prussian Prince of Automatons Plot.

Been thinking about doing a Nemesis related story arc and I realized I needed to brush up on my Nemesis facts.

I looked on the COH Main Page -> Game Info -> Know Your Adversary and suprise, Nemesis is not listed there, which of course means it IS a Nemesis Plot!

So I have been looking around the web, but haven't found anything yet that really is concrete. Paragon Wiki's article on the back history of Nemesis is a bit shallow, and other sites have mostly just been Mission stuff.

So anyone know where can I find good complete Nemesis info?

I had this problem before, and it was very difficult to fix. I can't remember the specifics, but it had something to do with multiple character versions of the same character -OR- you had to delete the custom group entirely (not any of the characters, just the group) and create a new custom group and add the characters in from your custom character list.

It was either one of those or a combination of the two factors

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So if you want to be very technical, the rule is farming is allowed if it's undetected and unreported.

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That's No Rule. That is a complete and total disregard for any existing standard of ethics or values. Under that, any crime, sin, or violation is justified as being "OK", no matter how ugly, abhorrent, disrespectful, or cruel, as long as no one of any consequence finds out about it.

You may have a point. I don't have some 25's laying around at the moment, and I am rather hoping that we will see a function added to the Mission Architect that will set a level range-zone that will auto exemplar/sidekick characters to an intended level. That would allow me to take a 50 and run it at 25. Optionally, I could add a single minion spawn from a standard enemy group that caps out at Level 25. That might work.

I'm not really sure thought at what level would be the "Ideal" range for testing since we can not hard set the Level Range-Zone to say:"This Arc is intended for Characters 30 to 40, All others need not apply." yet.

After playing some random amount of mission arcs, I wonder what people test their own mission arcs at. Challenge Level, Archtype, Build Level, and Enhancement loadout all play a critical role in how hard or easy a mission with custom enemy groups is going to feel.

I my self play:
Challenge Level: 4
Archtype(s): Blaster or Mastermind
Build Level: 50
Enhancement Loadout: All Set IOs w/ some Rares and a few Hammi-O's, No Standard Enhancement Origins (i.e. Singles, Doubles, Training)

I am thinking of changing this out using a second character build meant for Mission Architect testing only:
Challenge Level: 2
Archtype(s): Blaster or Mastermind (No Temp or Accolade Powers)
Build Level: 50
Enhancement Loadout: All Single Origins

This should mimic what the game's base level is intended for, and then I could adjust difficulty of the mission and custom groups up from there. Any thoughts on this?

[ QUOTE ]
There is an entire line of bright red text saying "Vikki is quite a brute, you might want to bring friends."

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Once again, you were warned to "Get whatever friends and equipment you need" before entering the mission.

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Okay, that being the case. I owe you an explanation and an apology on what happened. As I went through the mission arc, I was copying and pasting the text (Mission Intro, Send Off Text, Return Text, NPC Chatter, and Clues] into a notepad file so I could keep a coherent framework around what was going on. The text copied fine, but the color did not, and when I went back to review my notes, it was ALL black and white, and I erroneously made my statement based off of that, and couldn't tell whether it was a fair warning statement or just flavor text hype I've seen in so many standard CoX mission.


[ QUOTE ]
Usually people complain that this boss is too weak, actually. Also, the mezz resist is actually critical on both her and the Roboticist. Otherwise you can simply run up, knock them down one or two times, and their AI switches to the Pulse Rifle and never bothers to summon the bots. If they summoned the moment they spawned instead then it'd be a different story.

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That's interesting to note. That would explain a few other problems I have seen with A.I.s and Summon Powers in Mission Arcs. It is not a complaint, it is just a first time observation after being exposed to a new enemy group. Unit "X" does "Z", which is strange, and not the usual "Y", and Tactic "J" isn't working against it.

[ QUOTE ]
There is another thing that people seem to keep missing or outright ignoring: all of the allies are OPTIONAL. They're in place so that if someone decides to solo the arc but cannot solo the EB/AVs they will still have a way to complete the missions. If you don't want the allies, then don't use them. It's that simple and it's making any complaints about them very wearing.

[/ QUOTE ]

These aren't complaints, its a critique. I am not levying any grievances against yourself, I am simply applying my own value judgment and interpretations to observations I made relative to my own experience and conveying it for whatever potential value it may have. As far as Allies being optional, that is true. The reason for using them is that they are provided by the Author and thus it may be concluded that the Author has intended for them to accompany the Player as part of the story experience. To simply sideline an Ally may be like skipping a chapter in a book.

I've already posted a review on the appropriate thread. Review of either story arc is good.

Arc Name: That Mysterious Buzzing Sound
Arc ID:12774
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Red Zero, Red_Zero
Number of Missions: 5
Synopsis: Three days ago, The Magent Network Spotted a small asteroid that was projected to intercept The Earth. What has the Network concerned is that, while the asteroid did not break up upon hitting the Earth's atmosphere, not trace of the impact site has been located yet, nor any fragments found. In addition to this event, people in the surrounding region where the impact site should be located have been hearing an inaudiable buzzing sound that almost "sounds" like words, however, no audio recording equipment, no matter how sensitive, has been able to reproduce evidence of this noise. Your hero is sent to investigate these events and the results that lead up from this initial investigation.
Extra Details: Does Contain Allies in later missions. Contains NO Elite Bosses, NO Arch Villains
----------------------------------------------------

Arc Name: Santa's Missing List
Arc ID: 34961
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Red Zero, Red_Zero
Number of Missions: 5
Synopsis: Santa's List has been electronically stolen before being published for his annual holiday run. Worse, when the dastardly deed occured, the list once copied was deleted from the North Pole Network servers before it could be properly backed up. It will take the another week for the computers to re-compile the list and by that time the holiday will be over. As a result, Santa has called upon the Magent Network who is calling upon Your Hero to find The List and the culprits responsible before the real damage is done and the holidays are ruined.
Extra Details: Designed as a "For Fun" Story Arc. Contains an Elite Boss encounter, Contains Intensive Use of Allies

Arc Name: The Portal Bandits
Arc ID: 3326
Faction: Crey, Rikti, Nagan Hegemony
Morality: Heroic
Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard
Synopsis: A mysterious group has invaded a Portal Corp lab and sealed themselves within. The PPD has been unable to get inside and a hero is needed to enter the lab, defeat the invaders, and discover their intentions. (AVs are present, an Ally is given each time. May be challenging.)
Estimated Time to Play: 45-60 minutes

This review experience turned out to be more interesting that I thought it was going to be, primarily because am stuck at home on meds for a cold. Played through the arc once on Challenge Level 4, solo with my primary hero, then lost my notes on the first mission, and decided I needed to play through the first mission again to recap what had happened. Wound up playing through the whole arc again, this time on Challenge Level 4, with 2 other teammates, with my primary villian (yes, I know its suppose to be a heroic arc, that's just how things turned out the second time around.) This was enough to spawn Bosses in mob groups and make the End Boss an actual even-level AV. This I think gave me a better overview of the Nagan Hegemony Custom Group.

The Portal Bandits Part 1: The Portal Corp

Solo: The Story Arc starts out with standard mission fair for...Portal Corporation, which is just fine for me. That's how I like it. Start out basic, lay down the foundation, work the plot up from there. I'm always a bit cautious when encountering custom groups because you never know what the group's capabilities are. I did happen to have a Power Analyzer MK-3 I had picked up from Wentworth's and used it later on to find out that all of the Custom Group (Minions, LTs, and Boss) all had 100% Status Resistance to all Mezzing and Knock effects, with the sole exception of the Nagan Archer (LT) which wasn't a whole lot of comfort. As a Blaster, this severely impacted my ablility to defend myself, but fortunately control effects are only my secondary arsenal and not my primary, so I was able to work around that. IF I was playing a solo Controler, this first mission would have gone down hill really fast and I would have probably one starred it for Killer GMing. In my own opinion, the Mez/KB resistance needs to come off the minions or at least severely downgraded (if possible), as it may greatly disenfranchise Control oriented builds from being able to do their thing.

Just as a note: The Power Analyzer MK-3 doesn't tell me what their powers actually are, it just tells me what their bonus numbers are.

Team of Three: Started the mission playing my Mastermind solo, but picked up two of my friend well before the mission was over. This allowed me to encounter the Nagan Engineer for the first time, which is much like the Nagan Roboticist, except she has all three tiers of robots, which may be overkill. Add to the fact that she also had 100% Status Resistance and some inherent defensive powers, and then got bubbled by the Protector Bots, she became really annoyingly hard to defeat as she would just mostly run around or away with her high Defense after dropping the bots and occasionally fire the Pulse Rifle as she then didn't really have anything else to do. This wasn't too much problem form my Mastermind, but I wonder how other teams would fair against that in bulk.

In review, the Named Boss for the first mission IS a Nagan Engineer, but I didn't know that at the time, and when she dropped all those bots when I was solo, she was on the catwalk above the room entrance so I didn't see her when I entered the room and was basically wasted before knowing where the attack was coming from. Not being in the best frame of mind, being sick and on cold meds, respawned in the AE medical ward, went back into the mission, Build Up+Aim+Reds+Thunderous Blasted the boss and her entire complement of henchmen, minions and the like, and then proceeded to "Arrest" her with little remorse.

All in all, just part of the learning curve when dealing with unfamiliar custom groups.

The Portal Bandits Part 2: Chasing the Serpents

Solo: For the most part, the Nagan forces pretty much dominated most (90%) of the Nagan vs. Crey battles. I thought the Crey Scorpinoid Trooper was an interesting addition, as I am not familiar with that particular type. Nothing else to note other than I feel that all the flavor text for the missions is holding up pretty well.

Team of Three: This was the reverse of the solo mission, Crey forces pretty much dominated most of the Nagan vs. Crey battles. Just goes to show that balancing these out is hard and mostly out of the control of the author's hands. I think a lot of it has to do with the timing of when the battle actually starts, and the make up of either side, as that will change with group sizes and Challenge Level rating.

The Portal Bandits Part 3: Vikki's Safehouse

Solo: This is the first mission with an Ally: Anna Nethema, Elite Boss. I think if I wanted to, she could have just soloed the entire mission on her own if the A.I. was up to it, as she was typically one-shotting everying before I could really open up with my Blaster. I don't think she needs to be that high for this mission (or the next), and I personally consider her OverPowered for the mission. Standard settings at Boss level would probably be enough to keep her alive and assist the Player without stealing the Player's thunder. I don't know how that would contrast with her current settings, but I would be interested to find out. The battle with the End Boss, Vikki Vandale (Elite Boss) went overly fast too, really didn't know what was going on because Anna jumped ahead of me, and it was only after reading the flavor text did I know what was going on, which by that time Anna already had Vikki halfway down.

Team of Three: This pretty much played the same way as it did Solo. Anna Nethema was noticeably still OverPowered, but that observation was subdued by the team's superior numbers and larger enemy group size complement. Having a less powerful Ally in a Team setting would probably not be too much of a problem as the group can usually manage on thier own and the Ally provides mission flavoring, in which case the Ally only needs to be tough enough to get through the mission without hitting the floor. Same as in the solo mission, almost missed out completely on the battle with Vikki Vandale, as I was fighting a Nagan Engineer in the final room's floor cavity.

I need to note that there is no mention of the fact that Vikki is expected to be an Elite Boss in this mission, and that I know will be a turn off for some players, despite the fact that you are given an Ally with the ample capacity to deal with Vikki. You don't have to spell it outright in the mission intro, but at least give a fair warning that the Vikki is suppose to be extra challenging or at least not a normal boss, preferablely by color highlighting the relevant text to call attention to the fact that something important is being said that the player needs to pay attention to and not gloss over.

The Portal Bandits Part 4: Stopping Naga

Solo: It's a big, maze-like map, but that's okay by me, and it is the last mission. For some reason, my graphics on the last room spazzed out when I entered, but after that it was okay. At this point I am handling the mission by-the-book. This time, two Elite Bosses accompany you as Allies, and they pretty much dominated as much as the previous mission. By the time I found the EB Version of Naga Obscura, one of the Ally EBs was handling her on his own and I was just clearing out the static of the Minions and LTs for my own protection. I can't recall due to the cold meds if I actually did fight Naga Obscura or not, I just remember the Mission Accomplished ending.

Team of Three: Pretty much the same as Solo, except this time Naga Obscura is a true Arch-Villain. We actually lost one of the Ally EBs inside one of the map's Rikti Air Duct passages, so we only fought Naga Obscura with Anna. It was no contest, and I actually wonder if Anna the Elite Boss could solo Naga the Arch-Villain on her own. I had more trouble with the Minions, LTs, and Bosses than I did with the AV.

I noted in the inital mission synopsis that there was to be AVs and EBs present. A color highlighted warning in the Mission Intro Text really needs to be present to put that point home. Finding AVs lurking in dark corners of mission maps unexpectedly isn't something that thrills most players, even with two EBs in tow.

Final Overview:

Overall, I thought the story was strong, reasonable, and not overblown. I felt that my character was a contributer to the story's narrative and not just some tag-a-long, or worse. The custom group had good flavor. The plot made good sense and proceeded in a logical fashion supported by clues. The plot also parallels the real-world example of A.Q. Khan, in my own opinion, which lends further credibility to it's strength. In my own opinion, there is some power balance issues in the enemy/ally characters, but it is not game-breaking or potentially irresolvable.

I give it 4 stars, but this could really become a five star story arc.

There is an inherent problem with the DEFEAT ALL tag on mission lists. It is that there are actually 2 different versions of defeat all; the DEFEAT ALL ENEMIES ON THE MAP, and then there is the DEFEAT ALL ENEMIES IN THE FINAL ROOM WITH THE BOSS. The Mission Architect makes no distinction between the two with the Defeat All tag, and those are two very different objectives.

Also, A DEFEAT ALL objective is relative because it depends on the size and type of the map. If the map is fairly linear, small, and/or clean of hidey-holes, then it really isn't much of a problem. But if it is a large outdoor map, branching map, or map filled with nooks and crannies (think CoT) then its a nightmare. There is NO way a player can really evaluate this outside of the mission. All (s)he would see is a generic size evaluation (some I would say are misleading) and the tag Defeat All, and if they see UNIQUE for a map description, then all bets are off the table, as it could be anything.

I will still use Defeat All for objectives, but it is an objective that should be used sparingly, and as a story critical element.

That said, I have been on many, many teams that basically mow down each and every enemy group they come across till the mission is spotlessly clean. It is NOT that players do not or will not do Defeat All objectives, after all, most of the mission's XP is locked up in all the enemies through out the map, it is that some players are adverse to that objective having had some really bad experiences with spending hours looking for some small pet or underling lurking in some odd back corner of a lousy map in a mission just to complete it. A few others just want to skip to the End Boss of a mission, slice his throat, and move on to the next mission, which to me seems more like paying for a movie ticket only to watch the last 10 minutes of the movie. This is also why so many object or dislike escort objectives, because the have to go back though all the enemies that they skipped and deal with them.

So, Do use Defeat All objectives, but use them were it makes it a Story Element, and select your map carefully, and above all Play Test it!

So far, go good. Before I even got into Open Beta, I had story ideas floating around inside my head. The real trick was to see what could be done in the Mission Architect, and what could not. Needless to say, writer's block was not an issue.

However, making one's own preconception about how a story arc should play out and what the exact capabilities of the MA Editor were have been a struggle. Finding the map that best fits a mission, limiting the number of custom characters you put into a story, making best use of preexisting character models and then renaming a few just to save some space, working withing the 100k limit, not overpowering your custom characters so that they either dominate the mission or dominate the player characters (unnecessarily), And of course, making sure all the text is spelled correctly (minus flavor text spellings).

The biggest thing that took me by surprise though, was that once I had thought that I had play tested the story arc enough (at least about 5 times through) and released it, I kept going back and fix, changing, running text dialog back through spelling and grammer checkers (WORD 2007), or modding it. It was like I had released an Open Beta version of my Mission Arc.

I'm wondering if this is a lot like what the Devs experience when they release new story content in Beta on the Test Server.

How has the MA Authorship experience been for you? What stumbling blocks have you encountered that you didn't expect and what did you find easy? Has this given you a new appreciation or understanding for how much effort it actually takes to make new story content?

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I've also noticed that the editor allows you to place more objectives in a specific area than the map will allow, as long as you don't exceed the total maximum for the map. If you do this it moves the extra objectives to a seemingly random location.

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I've noticed this to, and it has made me look at the map allowances more carefully. This combined with the probability that some maps have overlapping Front and Middle, and Middle and Back placement zones, makes me wonder if List Order of Objective is critical to proper placement; I.E. create Front and Back objectives first, then add any Middle objectives last in the Mission Architect. I haven't looked at it very closely yet, though, to know if really has any effect.

The other factor may be that on some maps the Middle placement is simply treated as an ANY placement for the objective, which defeats the purpose of selecting Middle, which I suppose would be a bug.

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if you can't solo a mission on heroic, maybe you need to learn 2 play?

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Ohh that must be it.. cause being one shot on a scrapper by a stalker is me not knowing how to play..

there are bosses that can drop tanks in 2 hits, guess the tank should learn to play too huh?


but outside of that, I think part of the prob now is people are making stuff for IO'd out 50's, and then making arcs that are ment for lower lvls, yet tested with the exempt 50's

I think now we got dual builds, maybe some MA creators should use a second build and just SO it if they are meaning for the arc to be playable at lower lvls

[/ QUOTE ]If you suck that bad then bring a team. I see nothing wrong with uber bosses. All bosses I have fought so far in the AE are beatable solo. I have yet to find one I couldnt beat. Now EB and AVs thats something totally different matter since you need to bring a team for those anyways.

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Now that is just not recognition of what Heroic/Villainous (Challenge Level 1) Difficulty is suppose to be. Challenge Level 1 Difficulty is suppose to be the "wuss"(anyone got a better word for that?) setting. Most mission in CoX are really designed around an "Average" character being able to solo a mission on Challenge Level 2 with Basic Enhancements (Training, Duals, or Singles). The whole purpose of the difficulty slider IS to allow individual players to increase or decrease the difficulty to a level on par with both their character's capabilities and their own competence with that character.

If a mission is designed to be by default, lethal and greif-stricken on the Challenge Level 1, it will be completely undoable at any higher challenge level setting, even if a team is brought along. That will completely negate any other factors in or about the mission arc and make it pointless.

I like to Play Test my own mission while on Challenge Level 4. Why? Because that is the setting I play CoX at typically for my Level 50's and I have a good feel for what is going to be overkill and what is not. It also compensates for the fact that my favorite characters to play have had time to acquire choice enhancements, and that I am very comfortable in how they work. I figure any "lesser" (meant non-offensively) character and/or player can easily then tone down the difficulty simply by choosing a lower setting more suitable to them. In that way I hope to obtain balance in my MA Arcs.