cranebump

Man, TN, you're dead on when you wonder what would this look like at x8, etc.? I ask that every time I run an @Darmian arc (well...I mutter it...usually while I'm flat on the floor, or running away like a cretin).:-)

First off, let me thank steel frost, FourthSurvivor, Heat-Transfer, and Fate Evaness for running Of Guns and Asa Ronan. I am hopping on it today, and will check on the customs. I may just push things up to 20 to make it more reasonable for teams. Bear in mind that I design with soloists in mind, and I usually expect exemplared toons, IOs and such. That said, the challenge should be tough, but fair. It sounds like some things may not be, so I'll make a pass at it, for sure. Thanks much. If you run anything else I've designed, be sure to hit me up. The key word in AE is Entertainment, and I definitely don't want to take away from that. Thanks again, Crane

Last predictions I saw on this was around 2028-2030. But those predictions were at least 20 years old, and we seem to be moving faster than anticipated.

I’m aware of this. I should have added that this shows the limitations of the AI. It produces generic, soulless text. As one should expect from a machine, I suppose.

Reran Veluta Lunata. She does NOT sound like this at all.

I went to Brick for the Vig mish, chose the response, “Why don’t you call the police?” then received no mission. I guess the contact took my advice.

Seriously. I was gonna ask ‘em, “What’s your hurry?” My advice. Run AE story misses. Slower pace due to lower XP, and many contain new creatures.

Obviously this: Or, well, THIS:

Absolutely true. But I think it can also be true that the new arcs are overwritten. Watkins felt like that to me. You get sent on an overmap glowie run that I’m not certain added much value. It felt like a good part of that mish was testing different story mechanics. It was still better than a lot of the older arcs, though. No contest. (But it wasn’t better than Laura Lockhart, Bane Spider Ruben or Stockwell/Eagle Eye, imho).

On the plus side you can give your enemies storm blast. (Look! A new widget!):-)

Well, of course it would be better. But wishes and horses and if’s and buts and all that. This is the “budget” we have.

I thought the info dump on the previous Watkins arc was a bit much, as well. But you could skip through it if you wanted, and the arc was fun overall. I also thought the s rioters were trying to give us something different, and a bit more complicated, for which I applaud them. That said, I never considered how things might run on a team. Without cut scenes, teams are generally left out on all arcs. Unless you run all in voice, they’re just not going to get much of that detail. And I think that maybe (maybe) it’s to most people’s taste to just run the mishes and pound some enemies. Which means arcs with depth and detail are probably meant to appeal to the solo experience. Not saying this is either good or bad. It’s just what this game gives us, as it currently is. I’ll have to run the new stuff to actually render a worthwhile opinion. And I already have questions about the tilt toward the grey alignments (though we DO have plenty of love for heroes and vills elsewhere). But new content is new content. I’ll always support that over another powerset.

Well, there's Snakes, Legacy Chain, Wyvern, Scrapyarders, Coralax, Slag Golems, Luddites, and Wailers, to name a few. Longbow is certainly more present than one would think they'd be (though, if you're a villain, these are the guys trying tp stop you). As for Arachnos, I don't think we can really get around this group, it being, you know, sorta Lord Recluse's private country and all that.:-)

Running solo back in the day, just hitting L10 or 12 or some such. I hop out of SC South Tram, hang a left, head toward University (for reasons I can't recall). Run into an Outcast mob that has a Brick in it. I get KB'ed up and into the adajcent building. Toon ends up with just his legs sticking out the side of a wall (maybe through a window, but I can't recall that clearly). Had to stop and admire that for sec (and lament the fact I wasn't on a team for others to see it).:-)

Dragon's Tail and Eagle's Claw, I believe. And that's a good rec. Base MA is super "kicky," though you can choose some "fisty" animations instead, iirc.

Brute will give you a good balance of damage/defense. If you want to wade in and smack stuff, that's a good way to go. That said, nothing beats a blaster for taking down stuff from afar. You can get a good mix of ranged/Defense with a Sentinel, but you'd have to run some toggles likely. I've enjoyed (insert primary ranged damage set here)/Regen Sentinels a lot, since they mitigate endurance problems. If you intend to solo, might want to consider an Energy/Regen blaster. The knockback will keep foes off you. Once in game, I suggest playing the Outbreak Tutorial, since it will walk you through power uses, inspirations, and basic mission mechanics. Then play the story contacts, either Habashy, and/or the origin contacts. These missions will feature straightforward objectives and small maps. You might want to do Twinshot in Atlas, since this is a tutorial arc that has some interesting (if not obnoxious) characters.

My hate is well-developed, Zhym. I can embrace them both.:-)

Hey. Speak for yourself, I still hate that bastard.:-)

True. But the game itself is just stuck at that point in time. Even if additional stories eventually resolved the issue, if it begins in the same era, then those particular conditions represent the era's zeitgeist. You'd have to move the start point ahead to where the threat is lessened, or non-existent (even though we know there are people who are going to jump at phantoms anyway, regardless). And you're right - from a propaganda perspective, it's pretty tame, compared to real-life historical examples.

Good question, actually. But, having seen billboards with REALLY blatant messages on them propped up in certain places, I am thinking they'd be protected by the first amendment, if the entity buying the space is a private citizen or group. Which makes it seem like Vanguard really wouldn't be engaging in this sort of advertising (But would someone like Malta do so? Or maybe the Council, who ALWAYS seems to have tons of recruits?).

@SarahTheM1, I'll readily concede there's all sorts of anachronisms, etc. in the game/lore, which are readily apparent with even a cursory glance. That said, I think the presence of such only proves the canon timeline is messed up (and/or the presentation of it is). However, none of that negates the fact that the events are canon, because something in the narrative world led to them, even if they're not presented in proper sequence. That's my whole point - whether the narrative jibes with what's happening today is immaterial to what happens in the fiction, because the fiction is its own universe. Whether it makes me uncomfortable is immaterial, really. In fact, from a narrative perspective, it might be better than it does, since the last reaction I want to elicit with my story is apathy (which a completely sanitized campaign world would most certainly lead to). I'm neutral on the billboard issue, honestly, beyond merely stating that, if it's part of the campaign lore, that's enough justification to have it there. Beyond that, I would like to respond to a couple things here: If there's a narrative explanation that justifies its inclusion, that is absolutely all that's needed. Mentioning "obvious subtext" here is impugning the world builders by insinuating they have some other agenda than representing the denizens of the game world. Further, it would have been colossally stupid to try to intentionally alienate anybody in the real world back in the day, when people paid to play this game. Beyond that, I can't tell here if you're saying this particular "vibe" is due to people offering their argument, above, or the billboard itself. It really doesn't matter, as far as this particular situation goes. We're a small population, playing a dead game. And most fiction, in and of itself, doesn't matter all that much. A lot of it is bubble gum entertainment, and ours here is no exception. This isn't to say all fiction cannot make a true impact on society, but a billboard alluding to what seems to be a single story arc on Redside is small fish. A minnow, maybe. Like, a baby one...that you can't even see most of the time. It's really not worth the amount of time either of us has spent discussing it, honestly, because, as you so correctly noted: First statement: Sums it up. Second statement: Correct. And the reverse is true, as well. All I can do is go back to the fact that the billboard actually is based on in-game lore, granting it a narrative reason to exist, which, if you're storytelling is the only justification you need to include it. And... ...since it IS there, why can't we get an arc that explores the issue, and lets people who want to beat up on the group that bought the billboard if they want to?*:-) *Hmmmm...sounds like an idea for an AE story.

I am positive. I have some of my older missions where there’s a lot of dialogue popping. I think there’s less of it in the later missions. But part of it too I think is that you run our missions in stealth mode. So I am wondering if they’re not noticing you as quickly because of that?

All good. The fact you're even doing this is amazing.

Just pulled it up. It's all there - and not really a hint. Was there any follow-up on this?