Zakur

Thanks for adding the review for my arc to the list! I've been looking through a few of these, it's been fun to try them out.

Frustration about suggestions being largely untouched is understandable, but there's a few things to keep in mind. You should assume good will in regards to peoples' suggestions, and people are allowed to have bad suggestions, no matter how you feel about them. The devs are volunteers operating at a significantly smaller level than an actual game development studio, and there's a whole lot of suggestions being churned out, many of which aren't going to be suitable for the health of the game. The ones that are take months of development or more to make, and even more to polish and ensure they're fit for the game. They have to be very choosy with the suggestions they get, and they're likely to go for the ones that are attainable and have the best enjoyment-to-controversy ratio. That doesn't mean what they end up making will be the most wonderful addition that no one has a problem with, but working on any major addition to the game is a significant investment, and there's a good chance they have to commit to much of what they start on or else their already infrequent updates become even more infrequent. You're free to criticize the ideas of others, and you're free to criticize what the devs have implemented, but you should assume good will on part of both the developers and the posters. Regardless of how much the devs listen to suggestions (and I doubt they ignore them, given that the community is what keeps this game alive to begin with), the Suggestions forum is necessary to let the interests and ideas of players be heard by the community. It's worth posting here if you genuinely have something you want to suggest, even if it's unrealistic or undesirable. Not everyone has the same understanding of development's limitations, and it's good to know whether your ideas strike a chord with others in the community or if there's things you haven't considered about said ideas. If sharing your thoughts and interacting with the community was pointless, then the forums as a whole would be.

It's totally fine if you decide you absolutely want that enemy to be there, especially if it's for story reasons. What I might advise in similar situations in the future would be to include a decently strong ally to assist in fighting them, whether it be for heals, buffs, or extra damage, just to make facing an early enemy that strong a less demanding ordeal. People can get frustrated facing a powerful threat early into the arc, and it's best to avoid that if you can, but sometimes it just can't be helped with what you're trying to accomplish. The fact that there is an intended playstyle meant for this arc that is clearly stated and handles this enemy well does offset some of this issue, but it might be a good quality-of-life decision to make regardless. In regards to the maps, I feel you there. You could consider using maps like darker Praetorian lab maps where the atmosphere doesn't need to be quite as specific, but they may not be what you're trying to go for. It is something to keep in mind when trying to make a series of missions that are interesting to play back-to-back, but repeated map types shouldn't be enough to ruin the experience. At worst, it keeps the arc from being perfect, but perfect isn't always what you need to be going for anyways. (Case in point, my most recent arc commits the cardinal sin of using a large Council Caves map, and it does also use two tech maps in a row.) It is nice that some of these foes are optional and can be avoided if played carefully, and it certainly helps to know that, if that foe is too strong, you can simply play around them instead of being stopped hard by them. Just keep in mind that some people will see that enemy and assume, for one reason or another, that they have to be dealt with. Again, I don't think any of the problems I listed are catastrophic, and the arc is still very solid and enjoyable.

I went ahead and gave the arc a try. It's quite funny, and it doesn't take itself too seriously (the fact that the contact is a floating painting pretty much immediately sets that tone.) Going in with a fully slotted Invuln tanker, I didn't have too much trouble playing through this, even with increased numbers and notoriety, but I also know that most of my other toons would not have handled it so gracefully (and even so, it took me a very long time to melt through some of those groups!) The only major criticisms I have are below: That being said, I enjoyed the arc thoroughly and none of these issues ruined the experience for me at all, though that may be largely due to going in with a toon that fit the recommended playstyle. It had a quirky but fun pacing and a lot of different ideas thrown in the mix that made the experience largely unique, rather than one-note. Thanks for putting this arc together, it was a fun ride.

Thank you so much for the review! I loved reading your recap and you definitely managed to keep the main story spoilers hidden under wraps while going over the main points of the plot. I'm glad you enjoyed the story, and I enjoy your unique review format, too! I'll definitely want to put together more story arcs in the future, so I'll be sure to post about them when I get the chance.

Thank you for trying the arc and sharing your thoughts! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. It is true that I broke the conventions as far as the contact dialogue went, but this was an intentional decision to follow along with the more conversational form of writing that more recent story arcs have followed. Part of the reason for this is to get over the current Architect limitations of not having the ability to converse with NPCs in missions like more recent story arcs have been able to accomplish. By having the writing of the contact dialogue written more like a conversation, it allows the player and the contact to directly interact with one another, albeit in a very limited scope. It isn't perfect, and it does certainly break the conventional format, which would be necessary in many circumstances. In this case I felt that it wasn't necessary to structure it in this way, however, as the fact that it's framed as a superhero team-up implies a certain degree of expected cooperation. I consider it a small sacrifice to make in order to add a greater depth to the character of Storm Warning and allow the player to interact with her as more than just a contact. Ideally, this sort of interaction would just happen in-mission. Since that isn't a possibility, however, I think it is enough to delegate the choice of whether to do or not do a mission to the player's ability to simply leave the mission arc whenever they wish. I know you were saying that this wasn't a bad thing, but I wanted to clarify my intentions for designing the contact dialogue in the way that I did so there's a clear reason laid out for breaking convention for this arc. Once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I appreciate your time, feedback and insight!

Hey, folks! I decided to take a stab at making an Architect story arc that builds directly off of established canon and events occurring in the game with a unique progression. I'd love for you to take a look at it if you're interested in a very story-intensive arc! To Carve One's Own Destiny Heroic Story Arc for levels 30-54 In an unstable time where powerful factions scramble to grow their strength in the wake of Praetoria's fall, an outsider hero calls for your aid to find and take down a powerful and ambitious villain by the name of Hollowfrost before he can establish a foothold as a new major threat within Paragon City. Team up with and fight alongside the rambunctious superhero Storm Warning as you follow the trail of this villain, carving through whatever evil forces stand in your way, all while slowly unraveling more insidious plots hidden behind the scenes... (Arc ID: 69074) This arc takes place after Issue 28, Page 2 and references details of a few existing story arcs, but should be able to be played and enjoyed standalone. If you decide to give this arc a try, feel free to share your thoughts below, just remember to hide any major spoilers when discussing them.

That's something I hadn't even thought of using as an example, but that definitely indicates it probably wouldn't have a complexity issue. Maybe there would be an issue with animations, but I don't think that's too likely. I'd love to see it happen!

I'm using the Hercules Class Titan aether costume, and it appears to wield certain weapons (such as the Nemesis Staff and the Ghost Slaying Axe) just fine. However, when using a staff from the Staff Fighting secondary for Tankers, a weapon doesn't appear when readied or during the actual attack: This bug is consistent with both the Carnival of War staff and the default Bladed staff, and using the sheathed version appears to have the same result. I haven't been able to test if this bug happens with every staff, but I am unaware of any staff that does work with this costume.

As the title suggests, I'd like to see a War Walker added to the costume options for the Aether Shop. The obvious concern about doing this is the War Walker's sheer size, which large even when compared to the Longbow Cataphract, which was already included as an Aether Shop costume. The solution is to simply reduce the size to a less obstructive, player-friendly size, which was already done with the Longbow Cataphract costume, as seen here: The only obvious issue I could see with reducing the size in this way is that the War Walker model likely has more complex geometry than the Longbow Cataphract, but I'm curious whether it is actually an impossibility at this point. I use the Longbow Cataphract on a character with weapons because I want the character to be a large-scale mech that uses weapons, but unfortunately all of the costumes that are similar to the Cataphract (such as the Vanguard HVAS and PPD Enforcer) lack any hands, which can be awkward at times. It'd be nice to have an option for a large robot with hands for a change!