billha65

Back in the day I really wanted a build planner with all the bells and whistles integrated with the CoH respec function. That would would be so nice.

The stilted dialogue comes as a consequence of the character limit of the Editor. It is rather hard to truncate a 450 character block of narrative text into a 300 limit block of text. In some ways I found the process, far more difficult than adapting Chaucer and writing pages of Iambic Pentameter. I appreciate the feedback that was expressed, especially the fact that most enjoyed the experience- that gives me happiness points. Yes I was an old timer - joined CoH about 3 months after launch, on Victory server, played up to the last day. When the news hit that CoH had been revived, I was one of those who actually got in on the Bree server (before it's demise). Then HC launched and I am glad to be home again.

No worries - the suggestions I have received are diamonds in the rough. I am going to give the arc another pass through the edit process when a week has passed. The comment earlier about Glawrra dialogue being repetitive has taken hold and needs some exposition as to what they are about. My version of the Battalion has billions of them just waiting out there and I feel they should get a little more backstory so players can understand.

Actually I smiled at the Very Special Person comment. I am somewhat out of practice writing for a gamer audience, my last writing project was quite different - This https://www.facebook.com/groups/1634000066825819/permalink/1634013870157772 progressed into My goal with the current project is ultimately to present my version of the Coming Store to the players using the only tool available to me the MA editor, which has limitations that impede creative expression - specifically the character limit. If there was something that I would modify if I had Dev Powers, would be to increase the limits significantly to allow authors a larger field to plow. It would also be very freeing to have the pre-defined entities available to be selected at all level ranges; Level 54 Shivans (both kinds) would be very useful to my narrative. Creating high level versions of lower level entities is doable, but comes at a the cost of file size limitation, which is always a potential concern given the scope of the story to be told. My outline of the Coming Storm is pretty lengthy and it will probably take publishing it incrementally as it is developed. There are interesting things just ahead.

Thanks for the above comments. This arc is supposed to be end game content just like the original developers intended. My intent was to tell a story using the MA (with it's limitations) not to squander the players time. I will make another pass through the text and seek/destroy grammar errors as others have commented. The character limit is really a hard limit to deal with, especially the 300 limited ones. The inclusion of the "thinks/feels" was a choice made in presenting the narrative - perhaps I will revisit that decision.

Per the lore, the Kheldians were betrayed by Twilight's Son to be used as fuel for their ships....but there is more to this lore to explore.

That is how they were going to randomize the look of the Battalion Minions. Unfortunately with the limits of MA I will not be able to reproduce that. Much of the existing lore does not deal with the inner workings of the Battalion, I had to come up with something unique. It will unfold as the arcs get published.

Interesting observations. You got part of the function of the Glawrra and their Minders as an operational element. Not exactly a recon in force, more like a tide to sweep the weak leaving the "strong" to be isolated and handled, by specialist. This is part of my concept of "what" the Battalion really is. As the arcs progress more will be revealed concerning the Battalion. The posted lore did not go into much detail on the hows/whys of the Battalion, so I came up with something unique that does not conflict with existing canon. Twilight's Son has a lot more to do. Afterall per the lore, he betrayed his race...there is more to that story as well as how/why Silos recruited him. This will unfold in future installments. If I had Dev Powers there would be more interesting things I would like to be able to do, but with the MA as is, I can tell that story and I think players will like the ramifications. Lady Grey is also key to going forward in the overall narrative, but she is not necessarily acting as a free agent. Other factions are at work and she being the leader of Vanguard has the responsibility of dealing with Alien Threats. The Rikti are still a problem and the arrival of the Battalion are a bigger one. Manticore's Mansion was a hard one to get right with the MA limitations. The npc's and collections spawn randomly and I think most players understand that. Manticore himself also plays a big part in the narrative. I posed him like that to show his frustrations (there is no existing pose that I felt communicated the emotion as well). Per the Lore - Manticore and Countess Crey are destined to become romantic partners and that is part of the narrative to unfold - unless something has already sparked between them...I won't spoil it further. As for your comments on the composition / power choices - I did consider adding ranges/vertical movement - but that did not fit into my concept of the Battalion as a whole as an operational entity. As the arcs progress additional forces of the Battalion will be introduced.

That is the goal. There is much more narrative building going on. I will postscript the first impending Incarnate Trial I designed a couple years after sunset. That will be an interesting writing exercise.

Thanks for the critique, There are limitations to MA on where / when things spawn and yes one of my intentions was the detective feel which I am glad you liked. The arc is told from perspective that the player has experienced all the pre-existing narrative content. Twilight's Son is important to the complete arc. More will be revealed Good catch on dossier...will correct asap. Was the narrative interesting for you?

Thanks for the comments- The design of the members of the Battalion were the hardest decisions. If I were at Dev Level, those that you encountered are only a fraction of what already has been designed/tested. More details on the forces of the Battalion will be made clear in further installments. My design of the Battalion is 5 Separate Companies- The enemies encountered represent 1 faction of the Scout Company. Some of the stilted syntax is due to the limitations of MA - again if I were at Dev Level, it would read better...curious you did not comment on the story itself. Good catch on the Neutral Morality Arc...it went through many changes since I started it. Thanks for the input on that often overlooked detail. Interesting comment on narrative focus...I experimented with different perspectives in writing the narrative and it was one of many decisions that had to be made given the tools at hand with their limitations. Firstly, I wanted to tell a rich story with lots of interesting flavors and it is up to others to assess that. I finally chose the "over the shoulder" POV as it seemed easier. I know this decision to put "ideas/history" into the perspective of each character that plays through the Arc which may be contrary to the design by the player, would be negatively perceived and that broke your immersion, others have commented the opposite. I feel a good narrative is like a good rollercoaster. Strap yourself in and experience it. There is more to come - wish I could implement the Incarnate Trial I have designed for the end of Part 2.

Starting the new year with something that may interest some. This is the first part of my version of how the Coming Storm would be played out within the current limitations of MA. The narrative advances with the clues which are numerically coded. Comments are welcome, enjoy.