Sparkly Soldier
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Posts
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Joined
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...I have knockback, and I'm not afraid to use it!
Also, Steel Canyon can be a tough place to solo the first time since it's the first zone you run into that's split between train stations and level ranges. It's easy in those zones to wander in the wrong direction and, though you started off with enemies your level, find yourself overwhelmed. I had a hard time in Steel Canyon too until I started looking at the map and going "wait, how'd I end up this far north?"
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So long as there are two Ouroboroses anyway, it seems a shame not to play the divide up for all it's worth, with the villainous version having dark storm clouds instead of a tranquil sky, and an openly evil group of Menders from a different future recruiting villains to change the past and thwart time-traveling heroes enlisted by their hero-side counterparts.
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Quote:I started off as a free player with no prior CoH experience in October, a Premium player in November and then a VIP player starting in December, and my experience has been positive, precisely in the "VIP can make you rock more" sense. People coming to the game for the first time wouldn't feel like anything's missing. They won't be worried about IO's, Incarnate powers, AE rewards or anything like that: they don't know what those things are, and they're not relevant to a new player. Since AT's like masterminds and controllers were off the table from the beginning, they won't know to miss them. They'll just be mildly curious about what those special archetypes might be, while keeping busy with all the other character options.
...the game should be saying '"You rock, but VIP can make you rock MORE!" Currently, it's "You want no not suck? Go VIP!" as it crushes you into the dirt.
In that sense, by having the basic game free and restricting only the more advanced features, I think the model works perfectly; it sold me on going VIP, at least, without ever feeling like I was being cheated out of the game as a free player. The people affected most negatively by it are the ones who were already familiar with the game, had already become accustomed to all the more advanced features, and then found them suddenly locked up as VIP content. But something had to stay locked up to keep the company in business, and the developers seemed to work hard, harder than any other MMO I've seen, to make the path to level 50 wide open for everyone. -
Quote:This, so, so much, and Roy Cooling's arc is a good example of that. If you're anything like me, the first time you defeat Mr. Y and the building suddenly starts burning down, you spend a minute or two trying to figure out what the heck just happened and what's going on, another few minutes figuring out that the fire escape doors are actually important and then one last minute realizing you need to click on the fallen officers before everything fades to white and you get "mission failed." If it weren't for Ouroboros and the flashback system (which happened to also work well RP'wise, since it meant a guilt-stricken character could go back in time and fix things), that would have been a deal breaker for continuing the story arc, and an example of how much a mission that suddenly becomes fail-able with no warning ahead of time and no way to try again can sour the experience.
Short version: Failable is fine. Failable with no chance to ever try again is bad. -
I'd answer the question in two parts. A hero, to me, is someone who helps people with no thought of themselves at all, no ulterior motive or desire for reward, and with no self-interest (like, disarming a bomb that would have killed you isn't particularly heroic, but disarming a bomb that you otherwise would have been safe from is). Not just someone who's modest, though modesty is good too, but someone who literally gives no thought to themselves, only to the people they're trying to help. I don't think there are "heroes," as in a class of people set apart from others, so much as people have heroic moments: firefighters, soldiers, police officers, normal people suddenly pulled into a crisis and so on, who do everything they can to help and don't give a thought to what they're doing.
The "super" hero is someone who, thanks to the powers, the training and the resources that they have, can turn that mindset, those moments into a whole lifestyle. It's what sets Flambeaux, who's in it for the accolades and loses her motivation once they stop coming, apart from real superheroes. Of course, having those powers, training and resources is much, much easier in Paragon City than in real life.
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Quote:Oh, thank you - I'm glad you liked it, and it's an honor to be listed here!
#534314 - "Forsaken People: A Tale of Old Astoria" by @Sparkly Soldier
Heroic levels 20-29, Long
Description: When a district judge and the former deputy mayor both turn up dead, you're enlisted by MAGI seer Azuria to stop a phantasmal killer whose origins lie hidden in both the perpetual mists of Dark Astoria and the shadows of Paragon City's darkest hour.
Summary: This is a great and well-researched arc that you ought to be playing right now, hitting a lot of the plot points of pre I22 Dark Astoria. Though there are some enemies in the later missions that can get a bit frisky if you're not super tough, you didn't really expect to thumb your nose at the Sleeper and not get it bitten off did you? Though, I mean... he IS asleep, so I guess that would have been a fair expectation... Shame about your nose though.(*)
(*) - Friskiness of enemies apparently subject to revision (downwards?) by author in response to critique. Caveat friskitor.
Yep, the friskiness has been worked on: one bit of difficulty was a pure spawning oversight, while a few late-enemy powersets that players have pointed out were causing headaches have been down-frisked accordingly.
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Oh thanks - I had no idea about the "auto spawn" option! The way I finally solved it was to take the two custom bosses, put them in a separate enemy group and then use that group only for the boss objectives. Your way is much, much easier.
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A few people pointed out a problem that can create multiple, random MM enemies... that is not supposed to happen!
The enemy group's fixed so the MM boss should only appear when the story calls for her (one appearance in Mission 2, another in Mission 4, and never more than the one boss), and I also swapped out the powerset for another enemy whose holds were proving annoying.
(Edit: I tested the arc on +4/+8, and ye gods, it's a madhouse in there! But that's confirmed that the problem's truly fixed now - no more ghost summoning conventions. The problem's just that I'd included her as a boss in a custom group that also formed a patrol, and forgot that bosses spawn in those patrols on the right difficulty setting. She was never, ever supposed to be a random enemy. I also adjusted the final boss/rescue battle so there are high-difficulty minions and lieutenant versions as well as the bosses. That makes the fight potentially too easy on the lowest difficulties, where it spawns nothing but minions, but it also keeps a vast horde of bosses from filling up the room on the highest ones.)
Thanks for all the feedback so far, it's been a huge help! -
I announced these two arcs awhile back in the Creation thread, but they've both gone through a whole lot more polishing over the past month and now they're hopefully ready for a full release. The last one is...
Arc Name: Forsaken People: A Tale of Old Astoria
Arc ID: 534314
Creator Global: @Sparkly Soldier
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Horror
Length: Very Long (5 missions)
Morality: Heroic
Level Range: 20 - 29
Enemy Groups: Custom, Circle of Thorns, Banished Pantheon
Difficulty Level: Fairly easy, very solo'able (no EB's or AV's)
Estimated Play Time: 45 to 90 minutes
Suggested Team Size: Solo
Description: When a district judge and the former deputy mayor both turn up dead, you're enlisted by MAGI seer Azuria to stop a phantasmal killer whose origins lie hidden in both the perpetual mists of Dark Astoria and the shadows of Paragon City's darkest hour.
My second AE arc, inspired by the news back in November that Dark Astoria's going to be changing soon, written as an origin story of sorts for a character I made as an homage to foggy Dark Astoria and as a way of giving closure to the ghosts that'll be gone once Astoria changes. I hadn't started on Miriam Bloechl's story when I wrote this, but having done so since, it also fits in pretty well as an epilogue to her "Scroll of Tielekku" arc. It'll hopefully also work as a prologue to Issue 22 and Mot's awakening down the road, and I also wanted to give Azuria and the MAGI department one last world-saving hurrah before the next issue.
I'm a first-time CoH and MMO player solo'ing as a blaster at the default difficulty, so, knowing next to nothing about the technical aspects of balancing (and really nothing at all about AE tickets, experience bonuses and so on), I used custom enemies with standard powersets and reasoned that anything I can survive as a level 20-30 blaster without inspirations is probably fine for more experienced players. The maps are mostly small, linear runs through the story, which is what the arc's really all about.
All feedback welcome, and let me know if you'd like me to try out an arc! -
I announced these two arcs awhile back in the Creation thread, but they've both gone through a whole lot more polishing over the past month and now they're hopefully ready for a full release. The first one is...
Arc Name: Mira & Yuki: A Sparkly Soldier's Tale
Arc ID: 528804
Creator Global: @Sparkly Soldier
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Origin Story, Sci-Fi
Length: Very Long (5 missions)
Morality: Heroic
Level Range: 20 - 29
Enemy Groups: Custom, Generic
Difficulty Level: Easy, solo'able, some stealth recommended
Estimated Play Time: 45 to 90 minutes
Suggested Team Size: Solo, definitely solo
Description: Take on different roles in the tale of how Yukiko Yoshida first met talking, psychic plushy cat Mira and became a glittery pink champion of justice! Mira & Yuki is a very story-driven, solo friendly set of missions detailing Yuki's origin story from various perspectives.
It's my first AE arc and the origin story for my main toon. Despite the description, it isn't really a parody or comedy story at all; it's a time-travel adventure told in flashback form that's wrapped up in Kheldian lore, with the small touches of comedy here and there just coming from the story being narrated by Yuki.
I'm a first-time CoH and MMO player solo'ing as a blaster at the default difficulty, so, knowing next to nothing about the technical aspects of balancing (and really nothing at all about AE tickets, experience bonuses and so on), I used custom enemies with standard powersets and reasoned that anything I can survive without inspirations as a level 20-30 blaster is probably fine for more experienced players. If anything, some of the maps may be underpopulated by enemies, but since this is such a story-driven arc, I wanted to err on the side of making sure solo players have a seamless, hospital-free experience.
All feedback welcome, and let me know if you'd like me to try out an arc too!