Tangler

I haven't read through yet - though you should really change the title. I thought this was advertising an arc of yours.

Very neat, I approve of this.

What Xemulas said. Also, SFMA is not an indicative of quality.

Though if I may be so bold, 2 of my arcs (Mercytown and Might Makes Right) are SFMA, and the latter arc is <30 votes last time I checked. Both have also been run through pretty finely for typos and bugs too.

Happy Birthday!

(Be sure to PM me a slice of that bday cake.)

I don't see why not being canon should stop it having a souvenir, as MA souvenirs have their own section away from the canon ones anyway.

Bah, I really want to do this AP, though I need to resist due to exam commitments.

Hope this goes well!

Good luck Leese, I think you'll need it.

Well anyway, if you haven't tried it already here's:

Mercytown: The One With All The Fish
ID: 6017
Villainous
Lvl 1-10
Desc: Trouble brews in the waters surrounding Mercy. Will you be able to solve the mystery of this new threat, defy an ancient goddess and her people, all while enduring the inane ramblings of a mad scientist?
City of Guides Link

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Col, go ahead and brutalise me!

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Get a room you two.

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How about making it a gender neutral "your momma made it for ya?". Just as insulting to a super powered villian or hero without giving anyone out in the real world an excuse to feel insulted...

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Already changed it actually but thanks, it now reads " Woah! hey $name nice costume, so how many clowns did you have to steal from for that?" You can try the arc and have a look yourself.

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If anyone truly objects to it (it was 'Hey nice costume $name, your boyfriend made that for ya?' for those curious) then I'll happily take it out.

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It didn't bother me very much personally, but keep in mind you're writing for a huge audience - not only Union and Defiant, but also the American community. Some people are more easily offended than others. Whether you change it or not is up to your own judgement, of course.

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A fair point Colonel, thinks it's time to give Ironbug some new material.

Hey, thanks for the glowing review.

Though as to a few of your points:

I have what is probably a bit of a funny personal rule in that 'no canon characters' if I think it is possibly lore bending, hence the err on using Moment and rather had an analogue, as well as no self-insertion (all the custom mobs you see I just made for that arc, so I guess I'll take it as a compliment you actually thought they were player characters ).

As for the little dig made by Ironbug, that's actually a reference from when a certain spider themed hero was speaking trash to a certain rhino themed villain, but I can understand if you think it may be potentially offensive. If anyone truly objects to it (it was 'Hey nice costume $name, your boyfriend made that for ya?' for those curious) then I'll happily take it out.

I remember playing that arc when it originally had a 3 tier indoor map at the time, with increasing difficulty for each level. It was a cool idea, but I guess damz couldn't get rid of the annoying niggle where things would not always spawn on the level you would think.

They really should have made some announcement about it on the site or launcher, I was just trying to log on was wondering why all the servers were grayed out as well.

Feedback be it good or bad is always great. You're welcome to try mine Colonel, though I'm not sure if I already coerced you in-game into trying them already.

Might Makes Right: The One With Tin Hats Arc ID: 5213
Mercytown: The One With All The Fish Arc ID: 6017

For now at least, I would recommend you check out any of the vast numbers of missions I have mentioned in this thread as well as my arcs, if I may be so bold. All of them I would wholeheartedly recommend to others, and while I know it doesn't solve our in-game problems right now, I'd hate to see someone give up on MA because they can't find any decent arcs.

A Game of Knucklebones
ID: 35280
Mini review: lowbie friendly, hero themed. The premise is that you're sent out to stop several Skull raids, only to find all the incidents involve backstabbing their (now) former partners for some strange scheme. A straight up hero arc, that ties itself nicely to the lore as well as having a few really cool custom mobs.

Shadows in your Mind
ID: 47625
Mini review: Probably manageable once you have SOs, but I would recommend a high level as there are a few EBs and AVs to fight. Heroic 'themed' (thanks for mentioning that in case of confusion Knightly), the premise is that a malevolent force has been abducting citizens and it's up to you to stop it. Very well written and has a good build up to the finale. This one's a serious arc.

If it helps, I added tips on adding stationary 'civilians' here:

But yes, I agree that we need an actual civilians option.

Civilian Protesters

I use this in one of my missions where the player walks into the middle of a protest. Have a release captive objective, where the guy captured is one of the civvies, and have the surrounding enemy group be a different group of civvies (you'll need to make a group of custom mobs in this case). Set up their animations so they're using the protest signs, and set the surrounding group as an 'ally' so they won't attack the player (and nor can the player disrupt them).

Unless you have enemy patrols, very rarely will they end up fighting the other enemies (which was rather funny in my case since the enemy were PPD), though you can add a few lines in the combat field to explain it away if it does happen, such as a protest getting violent.

You could also use this for other things, such as dancing groups, people hanging around, etc.

Just gonna put down a few more before I forget them. In no particular order:

Birth of a Villain Group
ID: 60573
Mini review: for lvl 1-9s, this arc is an alternative levelling route for villains with the premise of establishing your own power base. You set up a base, recruit some minions and acquire assets. Fun and very well written.

Tales of the Weird Dimensions: Grand Convergence
ID: 7896
Mini review: no specific lvl requirements, but there's nothing here that should give you trouble once you have SOs. Heroic arc, the premise is to help Portal Corp to save the destruction of our dimension from an inevitable merging with another dimension, by ensuring that theirs sync with ours in certain key elements. It's a humorous arc, that plays on the CoX lore and in-jokes quite smartly.

Love Spurned
ID: 1934
Mini review: Lvl range 35-40, a lighthearted hero arc about helping one love sick guy who is in way over his head. It's a short and sweet arc that's fun to play.

When You Least Expect It...
ID: 12030
Mini review: No specific lvl range, but should be fine once you have SOs, note that it does have an AV. This is a neutral arc, the premise is that you have been paid by a company to test their military VR program due to your super-powers. It starts slow, but gathers momentum to a brilliant finish.

Apocalypse Cow
ID: 27552
Mini review: No specific lvl range, should probably do okay once you have SOs, though you do fight DE, and the group contains an AV if I remember correctly. This one's a silly arc, even if one of the jokes doesn't give you a chuckle so many are thrown at least a few will. Also gave me more information one more should ever need to know about cow breeds.

Twisted Tales - Part Two - Making a Song and Dance
ID: 12479
Mini review: Lvl range 20-29, like part one this is a neutral arc in the spirit of the holiday contacts. The premise is that the world has mysteriously succumbed to the effects of musicals, complete with the compulsive singing and theatrical plots. This is a fun arc with a fantastic twist at the end, if you played the first part and enjoyed it, you really, really should play this.

And finally some shameless self promotion:

Might Makes Right
ID: 5213
Mini 'review': Lvl range 40-50, though I suppose if you feel undaunted by Malta there's no reason not to attempt this once you get SOs. The premise is that this arc is the first time villains encounter the Malta group. I think Deus Ex and Secret Six were my main inspirations when I wrote this arc, contains elements of comedy as well as drama (oh, and lots of conspiracies of course).

Be sure to check out the MA: Help Snippets, Tips and Tricks thread, I've already posted a few work-a-rounds to beat the limitations.

Yes, the limitations suck, and I've certainly had to rewrite a lot of my objectives because of it, but if you're willing and flexible then you'd be surprised of what you can do with what we have now.

Not a guide, but could we include:

MA: Help Snippets, Tips and Tricks

I'd hate for it to be eventually lost to obscurity.

Grouping Objectives

You can group objectives under one header, so long as the share the same singular and plural objective name.

For example:
1) Have one glowie that's a computer.
2) Fill in the singular and plural details i.e. X 'more evidence to gather'.
3) Have another glowie, say a box.
4) Now give it the same singular and plural details.

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I'd say Farm missions have the highest ratings in the MA at the moment...

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My personal conspiracy theory about this, is that quite a lot of the highly voted (40+) 5 star arcs are getting 'sunk' into the 4 star void leaving the less voted, and more *ahem* questionable 5 star arcs on the front pages. I think I've seen at least 3 otherwise worthy arcs on the front page drop off because of this.

Well i14 is still quite new, the rush is dying down now but I would not be surprised if quite a few players have just buried themselves in the editor, and teams for farming the bajillion new badges are still going strong.

I don't think i14 has increased the amount of farmers and PLers, at least significantly, rather they are just more obvious now because they can do it all from the starting zone.

You can always of course, start your own team.