cranebump

January 26

Don't think so, kemosabe. But some of the other folks might know better than me. I sure haven't seen it. Even NPCs with flight capability aren't always flying. Some patrols with flight movement will use it to travel up levels. But fighting in the air? Not that I've ever seen. (of course, I've never been looking for it).:-)

January 26

My stronger toons are all in an Excelsior SG made up of my alts. As I've shifted more to soloing over the last year (and trying to catch story arc teams where I can), I've found myself on Torch a LOT more than Excel (to where I'd consider it my "home" shard now). With Excel often in the red, and me no longer in need of hurrying along as much (nor wanting to wait at all to enter the fray), I've been seriously thinking of moving my entire stable to Torch and living there more or less permanently (I'll always switch shards to help a buddy, though -- or a stranger).:-)

January 25

8 hours ago, vibal said:

I run fast teams and always clearly advertise them as such. My anecdotal experience is that I rarely see a fast player lambasting someone for not keeping up.

On the first part: that's exactly what people should do. Kudos to you (and others) for doing that. (and I feel like lots of people do)

On the second part: I don't see fast players lambasting anyone else, either. I don't think it's that they're necessarily "nicer" than non-speeders. Rather, I think slowpokes don't matter to a speed demon, because it's about gittin' 'r done ASAP. If that's the team's stated objective, more power to 'em. If the expectation is otherwise, then it looks like the speeder could give a sh*t about everyone else (whether they're actually thinking that or not).

But, really, you nailed it. Advertise. And if someone DOES advertise a style, and I hop in on it, I really should do my best to support that style of play (for a speed team, that may mean some stealth and those handy team TPs and such).

Reminds me: I've run on some, kind of, "hybrid" teams, where the leader will say, "Solo if you think you can handle. But please don't enter the mission until the leader zones." (I think that's how Blapperella does it on the old school runs, like Sister Pysche). If I ever got off my ass and started more actively leading teams again, that would be an approach I would probably use. I also wish I would see (or start, damn me) more smaller teams, as @Krimson suggested. A "star" team of 5, for instance.

Long story short: advertise what you're doing. If you don't, then don't complain about what you get. The old days of the automatic expectation of tanks herding to a pummel spot are pretty much gone (in open play, at least). That said...my squishy still follows the tank. I need SOMEONE to blame for my stupidity, after all.:-)

January 25

That was exactly the one I was thinking of, @Clave Dark 5. It's really something unique.

January 25

6 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

I just felt the 20 range was an area where you have lots to do. A lot of the TFs and SFs in this range are solid and I enjoy playing them over and over (except Citahell - one of the worst in the game IMO).

+1 million :-)

January 25

On 1/24/2024 at 1:21 PM, BurtHutt said:

I also hope they add more incarnate content. It really was odd that they added contacts in the 20 range.

With a LOT of emphasis on vigilante/rogue stuff. I'm thinking adding new stuff at 20+ actually makes sense, considering the pace of levelling these days. You can fly right through the early levels without touching any of the story contacts and end up at 20 in a heartbeat, making this the de facto starting point for segueing into story-oriented stuff. Which is why I doubt we'll ever see any work done on stuff below that, since you can Habashy-Costel/Fields-Thiery yourself right out of Atlas Park in a heartbeart. Even some of the very excellent lower level stuff (like Laura Lockhart) bleeds into the 20s, so there's no incentive to hit the truly lowbie stuff, unless you're learning the game, or are a completionist. Or you like meandering through contacts, then tracing your character's history through the experience (which I do, with some characters). This is why, though I'd LOVE some new work done in AP/KR/STEEL, etc. the fact is they're being mostly skipped anyway, for various reasons. It's not a good use of HC's resources at present. (imho) . That said, I would love new blueside content.

January 24

I agree with the OP, but I believe their answer to why they join teams then run off is going to be related to maximizing rewards gain in the shortest time span, and they figure this is a faster way to do it.

Or perhaps it IS just chest thumping. Hard to say, because there are often advocates of that style of play. I suspect we’ll likely hear from one in 3,2…

January 24

It's great work, kemosabe. I'll feature it in my next batch of short reviews. Check your typos! In particular:

Spoiler

GREAT CAESER's GHOST! (I LOVED that, but it's spelled Ceas--got the two letters transposed.

January 22

Watt the hell is going on here?

January 22

2 minutes ago, Crossie said:

Am I the only person who plays this game with no sound?

Mine may as well be off, most times. I run a lot on my laptop, and there are certain things I cannot easily hear at low volume. Like glowies. I end up slipping on the headphones for those sometimes. On the whole, the game sounds don't really bother me. But those REALLY BRIGHT custom effects? Another story...

January 20

Hmmm...maybe I misinterpreted their intent, then. Yeah, I think what you've got there is a good solution for avoiding the body bag situation. What kind of mess you want to put up with certainly sums up the AE design choices.:-)

January 20

@Defeat All Snakes’s suggestion, above would achieve the effect for sure. But the OP was originally asking about having the “dead” NPC as an objective. Having the actual body would be preferable, but would require a bit more work to simulate the effect. However, nearby glowie drawing an ambush is going to activate the “dead” bod when the bad guys roll in. could avoid this with an Enemy boss spawn back up the path, with boss text indicating “you’re under arrest” etc. This would draw the player(s) away from the dead NPC.

On the whole, though, In this case, you can either take a 1 step, unpretty approach (body bag spawns ambush), or the much more artful, 3 step approach (unclickable body, nearby glowie, boss group). Depends on how important it is to you to have the actual body.

Also: in lieu of a body bag, you could instead use an object, say a piece of machinery, and say the body is stuffed there. Then give it a gruesome description or something. Sometimes what can be imagined is stronger than what we can see.

January 19

If you’re just coming back, and Emp was your original jam, I’d just play that. It’ll let you ease back in in a comfortable manner.

January 19

I think we can assume it’s the Atlas in the game.:-)

I always figured he was a SS/Inv tanker. With the aforementioned map and nav skills.:-)

January 19

There's an "Unconscious" selection, though I can't recall if it is available under all NPC objectives (allies, rescues, etc.). That said, I don't think you can have them as an objective where the body stays put (I imagine the NPC will get up, then fall back down when you leave them). You can use "Dead Slab" to have an NPC fall over to the ground on a rescue, but they won't stay there, to the best of my knowledge. On the whole, I think you're okay with the body bag (though it's not visually optimal), since players will note the bad news from the visual clue.

January 19

Okay, here we go:

Spoiler

M1:

Catching stuff as I go

*Mission description says that "summer" might be involved. Is "summer" a person? If so, it should be capitalized. If not, ignore my pickiness.:-)

*Send off text: "slaughter" is missing the 't.'

*Summer Court was capitalized the first time. Lower case the second. Since it's a named organization, we should cap those first letters.

*Don't need the period in the Nav Objective text, unless you're giving 2 objectives there, and need to separate sentences. This jibes with in-game format.

*woo...those guys are end drainers. AND they fly all over the place. Glad I brought the tank.

*interesting they're in a warehouse. No bigs, just an observation. Then again, we don't have a lot of good Croat maps to use, outside caves, and those "mushroom patch" maps.

*Annnd done.

*End screen: check spelling "devastation." Also: I wouldn't use semi-colons, since you're writing speech patterns. People don't speak in semi-colons. Just put a period, and don't worry about being grammatically correct. THAT SAID: you're not technically wrong to use them. But I think Vonnegut got it right on these. Anyhoo, your call. It's not an error, obivously. Crane just hates them.:-)

*End Clue: Again with caps on Summer Court. Writing and info are lovely. But this needs a tweak for grammar/consistency's sake.

*Sheesh...Oberon sounds like a real douche.

Verdict: REALLY like your contact (esp. info, which is clean, clear and direct). Speaking mannerisms give them personality. Mish is straightforward, but leaves some mystery (which gets revealed in the end clue, with the court info). Good call. You're deepening the narrative as you go, in nice, digestible chunks (not like that Crane guy, who has some mishes that read like novels [that bastard]). 🙂 I like seeing the witchies! Croatoa perps are sadly missing from a lot of AE arcs. Good start!

M2: (I'll try to keep the verbiage down a bit here--I tend to ramble)

*Caps on winter court, as well (Winter Court).

*And the CoT are involved. Good. I hate those guys.

*Ooh...what is this map? Enter and there's a door. Noice. FYI: The NPC text re: guard popped after I approached it, as if I "heard" it through the door. Nice effetce!

*"King's Departure" clue: Just notice, "mulling" is missing an 'l.' (on that: provides a new mystery [disap. of Obie]. Excellent. Narrative is always deepening).

*Tell you what...you get a couple CoT groups back to back in these halls, it can go south VERY fast. Again: thanks, TANK!

*Ooh! The white star signifying my objective popped up early! Without clearing the map, per usual. Was this something you did? Or is this something the map does? HELPFUL!

*Abraxis's clue appears AFTER the book retrieval clue on the clues screen. The objectives may need to be switched, if you want to maintain clue order, with new clues spawning at the bottom.

*END TEXT: "...that interest me greatly." Need an 's' there.

VERDICT: I LOVE this map. Close proximity fights in narrow hall. Nice change of pace from dispersing witches. You have presented disparate challenges. Bravo

M3:

*I like how tight the intro/send-offs are. You get the basics in the former, then the latter is "got get 'em." Economical and effective.

*NAV Objective: "Alters" should be "Altars."

*RED CAPS! It's a who's who of Croatoa here!

*Love the map.

*Great allies. Slows & heals. We're making this mish our beeyotch.:-)

*All 4 altars appear in the same room. EB Selune appears right behind us, at entrance to the cavern. Excellent placement.

*FYI: Gray says "Caderon went ahead of me," but I found Caderon before Gray. Spawn issue, so you can't control that. But if you want, you could just have him say, "Have you seen Caderon? He's here somewhere." I know he mentions something like that in rescue text. In any case, if you really want to cover your bases, this would be a small edit. It isn't 100% necessary, though, since it's 50-50 it would be the way you intended.

VERDICT: LOVE this mish. It's perfectly paced, placed and executed. Like a dream. Great allies. Red Caps. Enjoyed the hell out of it.

M4

*INTRO: I'd drop the semicolon and go with a dash. But Crane hates :'s, so perhaps he is biased.

*LOVE the introduction of "the impending doom." Discovery, revelation and surprise should always be a part of arc design (imho). You're nailing it.

*Oh, sh*t...Requiem. Better put my big boy pants on.

*"trounced expeditiously. Heh. I like that.

*GREAT intro pop. Evocative!

*You're gd right I'm meeting up with Gray. Gonna likely need him.

*I missed Magus Gray. I think he was in one of the rooms behind me, since I saw him pop up after Jubes and I trashed Req and his minions. Turned out I didn't need him. Jubilent and her pet and I cruised. I like how she ran off and engaged on her own.

VERDICT: Great map, mish, and ally. The 4 glowies were in the same room with Requiem. Perfectly executed! (again)

OVERALL: So, it's a 5/5. REALLY, REALLY well done. Clever way to work in a variety of bad guys (with a focus on Croatoa/magic). Judicious use of allies. Excellent objective pacing and placement. Great use of clues (nothing is wasted-everything is essential). It's professional, and on par with anything in the game (and better than a lot of it!). Well done.

TWEAKS:

*Fix the caps issue with the courts. I know. Pain in the arse, as all those "summer court" refs need to be Summer Court. I suppose you could go the opposite route and lowercase the few that are capped, but I think that's not the best approach. This is a named entity. No reason not to treat them as such (other than having to go back through and drop in letters here and there (editing...blah, right?).

*Still uncertain about Cabal in a warehouse, but the mish works as is.

*A few minor spelling errors.

Keep on truckin' hombre,

Crane

Long story short for the no spoilers crew: this has Crane's unmitigated seal of approval (if that means anything...I mean, it's not a Honus Wagner baseball card, but I WILL provide gum). Well done, @Seed22!

January 19

Not sure when I’ll get to it, but do have an idea. Just need to mull it a bit more.

January 19

Oh, man...now I'm glad I got through it when I did.:-) Just to be clear about my intent on that comment: I was not running on max settings. I thought I was more at fault than anything on the design front. But those maps feel sparse anyway, don't they? Should make for a hell of a run now.

January 19

I cannot believe you dragged yourself out of your sick bed and into the breach this week, hombre. Tip of the 10-gallon hat!

January 18

I hardly do any tutorial arcs anymore. Used to do Galaxy City. So these days: I might do DFB to about level 10. Then KR or Hollows. Lockhart in Steel (or Pos1 and 2). Faultline arcs. Usually throw in a Synapse and a Cit. If I'm straight soloing, I may or may not start with Matt H. I might start out with default contacts in Atlas. Whether I do or not, I'll follow whatever contacts I get, often juggling 2 at a time (used to do more than that, but 2 is easier to manage these days, and gives me a better chance of not outleveling one of the arcs before I complete it and get the merits). There's a lot of merits via arc completion, by the way. It can't compete with the time/merit ratio of blowing through some of the TFs, but you can come out with a decent haul.

January 18

1 minute ago, Darmian said:

I find that the story shapes level design. Then again "story" might be "Farm this area for smashing", so that gets nuanced.

So do I. Though I have started the process with as little as a basic title, and then done some creature design before figuring out the story. In the case of this thread, I'm mainly thinking about some of the stuff like @Clave Dark 5 has done (particularly the one involving sound {the title, unfortunately, escapes me). I'd include @Peacock's Rumors of my Death are Entirely Accurate in there, as well, if only for the introductory mish that sets the stage for everything else. Mainly though, I wanted to pay some respect to @huang3721's comment about level design, which isn't something I've thought about much, but is worth more examination and appreciation.

January 18

This thread is based on this comment from another discussion we've been having here in the hallowed halls of AE:

On 1/17/2024 at 10:12 AM, huang3721 said:

A good level design, however, transcends storytelling. Anyone can appreciate a good design. A challenging design, IMO, is even better.

Now...while there is no way in the nine hells that, as a story teller, I'm going to agree that level design transcends storytelling, I WILL readily admit that creative level design can be its own piece of art, for sure. There's some stuff out there that can be appreciated for its design intricacy, creativity, and, - dare we say it? (yes...we dare) - pure aesthetics (which, indeed, may transcend being pigeonholed into the typical "story" category).

That being the case, if you are an accomplished and artistic mechanical designer, or one for whom the presentational aspect is at the forefront; if you're one who experiments with the tools we have to produce unique creations, or for whom "story" might be better termed as "experience,"* this is your exhibition hall. Post your creative mechanical design entries here. Your experimental pieces. The times you were pushing the AE tools to their limits. Your strange edge cases that fit into the stereotypical AE "story" box." You might tell us a bit about what you were shooting for. Or we can just let the art, flow over us, man. Either way, throw yourself some bouquets. Let everyone know you've got something uniquely off the beaten path.

* This isn't to say you aren't trying to tell a story, of course. But the idea is that your primarily using the tools to produce some interesting effects or challenges.

January 18

Thanks, cuz.:-)

January 18

If you’re comfortable with game play, you might try villain play instead. Stories are generally better, since it came out later. If you want more narrative choices, that’s Goldside (Praetoria). That said, if you follow contacts Habashy, Stockwell in Kings Row, The Hollows arcs starting Wincott, then Faultline starting with Jim Temblor, you’ll see some good stories. Laura Lockhart inn Steel Canyon is a great arc. The new content is also very good (or at least interesting?). That said, this may not be your jam. Nothing wrong with that.

(interesting…your comments on what you don’t like here echo mine about Neverwinter (gather X widgets, defeat X number of this type enemy, go inside a structure and kill a boss). Maybe stuff is better behind the paywall on that one.)

January 18

Running a Rogue MM, I zoned in to Nerva, had a LONG flight across the zone to contact Naylor. When I turned toward the nav point, I saw a long line of Rikti ships, flying one behind the other, slightly offset, gliding over the water, dropping their bombs. It was freakin’ majestic. Woulda taken a screenshot, but I seem to be out of space to paste it.

(After gawking for a bit, I got the f*** out of there and joined a Synapse team. Didn’t think those guys wanted me in their convoy. Especially since they took pot shots at my poor, stupid zombies.)

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