cranebump

I can attest to this. Or rather Acrobattle’s ass can.

The Meteors! Running joke between @Darmian (or just my joke, because I'm the only one who laughs) is how much HvH sucks, the lame-o.:-) (P.S. If you haven't met him yet, you will [hint: THWIP!]).

I think Skulls cap at 20. Anky's right. They will not level up. And, unless I'm way off, the PC will shift to the min mish level, which, for Crey is, what, 30? So you end up with outleveled Skulls in the mish's first half, because the PC will assume, at minimum, the floor of the highest enemy's level range (unless you set the mish to cap at 20, then have higher level stuff in it [which would have to be a boss+group?]). Been awhile since I scripted, but I thought this was how it worked. In any case, the simplest fix is to use enemies that have some overlap. If you have custom Skulls that do, great. If you're using default enemies, reconsider your first group. Switch to one that has the same levels as Crey (Cot? Council?). Especially if it is not narratively essential that the first group has to be Skulls. You'll know whether they are based on enemy motives. For example, the Skulls are into: (1) the Superadine trade, (2) finding victims to "make their bones" (literally, with the masks), and (3) taking territory from/beating the crap out of the Hellions. How do these motives overlap with Crey (which has an entirely different set of concerns). The initial thought I have, based on your mish skeleton, is that Skulls are working for the Crey in exchange for (money, Superadine, weapons, [fill in the blank]). PC hero gets involved, Crey suddenly appear (because there was an exchange/payment about to take place?). This reads like Skulls (low level) hired to do some dirty work for Crey (higher level). So my main question on this would be: Why isn't Crey doing this themselves? If there's no good reason for them not to proceed alone, then I don't need a second group. Problem solved. If I have a good answer to the main question, then my second question is this: Assuming Crey's very good reason for not getting directly involved, why did they hire this particular group (the low level one) to do it (the kidnappings) for them? Of course, I'm making assumptions about your story here. Given the current parameters, it sounds like maybe kidnappings for Crey test subjects. Since it requires a low level flunky/patsy in case things go wrong, the new experiment requires deniability. BUT...the kidnapped must be special, because the Crey show up to stop the Hero from escaping with them (or, they just happened to arrive at that time). Okay, so I'm spitballing, but the point is this: you can always come up with a reason for any group to work with any other. When it comes to AE, I feel like it's a good rule of thumb to use what it gives me, rather than to force it to do what I want. Crey seems to be Group A. Okay, then: (A) what Group B can I use to work with them, level-wise and (B) Why this group? In this way, the technical aspect is solved for me, and I can just press forward creating my missions. tl;dr: Selecting a group that overlaps levels with Crey (on the low end, say, 27-32 or something) is the simplest and easiest fix for potential issues. But consider the question: why isn't Crey doing this kidnapping themselves? You may not need a 2nd group to tell the same story.

Yep. Timers and ambushes. My apologies. I think the douche baggery was strong in me on that one:-) As far as the hostages go I set it on Random so you get some very weird stuff in there. I probably should’ve paid more attention to that since the nature of the hostages are clues in and of themselves right? derrrrrrrrr

Didn’t realize any Mobius entries were even there. I’ll have to strip them. It was huge, but perhaps too big. Thanks for doing what you’re doing. Appreciated.

Wow, TN. This is some good stuff! Gonna be a commitment, for sure. Dark Deeds is an immersive, detailed, Epic. It’ll feel like a Netflix series, fer sure. As for Ordinary People, that was among my first efforts at anything AE, so…watch out for the bumps (namely typos I never fixed, and my insane love of timed missions and ambushes back then). We salute you, hero!

We sure did.:-) But… KR Devil is probably still my main. AR/TA blaster does a bit of everything. No travel power outside run, run, run and devices. The Devil is linked to the Row’s Juan Jimenez (and MAY even be JJ, himself). He’s a 50 with sets and all that proc stuff (mainly everything is KB to KD). As for what I’ve been running lately, rolled up a TA/Archery DEF because it seemed like DEFS were back. Mikayla Jenkins got a bit of training from Lt. Chelman (thanks to Manti) and is out there doin’ her thang (though grandma doesn’t like it much). She’s closing in on L30.

Too mediocre? No. They’re just the right amount of mediocre.:-) I can usually drop Veles if I go in with enough Insps. Sucks if he drags me into the fire on a melee character. I can remember back in the day fearing Nocturne, though I can’t recall whether she’s an EB.

Hmmm…might’ve been interesting to just leave Mercy AE. Imagine increased traffic if that somehow become ground zero for beginning PCs wanting to go straight to the farms. Redside revival!:-) P.S yeah…that wouldn’t happen, would it? (sniff)

Play without IOs. That changes things.:-)

It’s that time again… Time for ol’ Josh to hit the slopes! (and such). Today, we- HEY! STOP TRYING TO HORN IN ON MY ACT-...er, never mind. So, searching “my level” and SFMA, I happen upon a name I haven’t seen, with an arc meant for an origin not mine: Wrong origin. Dark energy. Certain death. Yeah. This has Josh written all over it (or maybe partially written on it, like a little scribble on its shoulder or somethin’). IN WE GO! So, there are some considerations: Hey…I have zero aura, and no magic. Unless I fart. Then I have the aura…sorta. And no, I’m not intimidated at all by this person: The eyes…the EYES! So, big ol’ tower with 300 floors is leaking energy. This makes me the plumber, and… I’d say this is a clog. Looks like a custom and some reskinned Vahz, Ghosts and, is that a Coralax I see? Nice! I like it. Later... See that? That is a PERFECT Destroy Object(s) spawn. 3 Objectives all lined up. If this was planned, it’s awesome. It’s still great even if it’s luck, but if testing showed this is consistent, then bravo. One great thing about running arcs if you’re into design is checking out how other folks handle things like clues. This is one I hadn’t thought of: I number mine by Mish-Clue# (ex: 1-1, 1-2 and so on). This is an economical way of grouping by mish without having to worry about slotting the clues in order on the design screen. Very interesting. So take out the 3 obelisks in one room, find a clue, then move on to find the 4th obelisk. At this point I’m thinking, Awwwww…it’d been nice if it were 3…(sniff) M1 wrapped up neatly. A purple light whisks me to my bedroom in 1975. Or back to the contact. Who can say?:-) Okay, my first suggestion. When indicating action vs. dialogue, as we see here: I’d go with a different color font (I like to use orange for this, but it really doesn’t matter as long as it’s consistent). Other option: italics (I use that, too). FYI: this thing is clean as a whistle as far as editing goes. Bravo. Second thing is this, of which I am including just a snippet: This is a mish end clue that summarizes everything I did in M1. I don’t know if this will be an ongoing feature of this arc. If so, I strongly advise against it. Something like this would be GREAT for the badge summary, which I think has 3000 characters. But this big thing just adds redundant info to the clues screen. Dat’s a LOTTA clue-age, maestro. M2 BOOK SEARCH! OFF WE GO! So, We’re TP’ed in via a portal, so: Well..they wuzn’t lyin’, bro…(translation: nice map choice) Another situation where 3 of 4 objectives in the same room. This is nice. But it also makes me wonder if we needed 4 to accomplish the same goal. After the clickies, I have a boss fight: Um...no. Josh Jones just doesn’t listen, bro! Out we go! In the debrief/brief, we get this tidbit: What YOU find odd…(by the way, is that a bad thing? Josh don’t know. I mean…he doesn’t listen…) M3: So, off we go: Okay, this doesn’t sound creepy at all (is that a misplaced Kevin Bacon I see?). Once in this place of everybody’s memories, we find: Memory? Pretty sure this is happening now, bruh. We pick up a friend with some nice togs: NOTE: In M3, the mish numbering system works a bit clunky. We have some consecutive clues related to the main mish goal that group together on the page, but spawn above a previous clue, making them appear out of order. This is where number or coloration might be helpful. NOTE: I love this map. However, it’s definitely one that sends you running back and forth when it’s loaded down with objectives. Not necessarily a bad thing, since the map is rather small. But we do have to hop up and down levels, so it seems farther to go. After several back and forths to various shades of Mr. Tanny, we get some interesting customs: Rocks…you’re throwing rocks at me…I hate you… (seriously…Josh and boulders have a bad history). DONE! ONWARD! M4: Time to stop a ritual. Might be dangerous. I mean there are many clues. Like this one: Sooo red and creepy in here… And then this: Free the crew of the Enterprise! NOW! Oh, wait...you're NOT Apollo? M4 has a couple nice boss battles. Map has it’s issues. My ally dropped into that big pit and I was just too lazy to go back and get her. Thankfully handled the boss by myself thanks to jousting and a couple Insps. Finale time! And I finally find a typo: There is no escaping the dreaded tyyypo!:-) Okay, no idea what this map is: But I LIKE it! So, grab my paladin buddy, then off to destroy stuff, etc., then this: Fuuuuuuudge…right in the middle of a pain crystal. And usu you can’t shoot an object until you engage a guard so..yeah… Speaking of that: My Pally friend is a masochist… Okay, so I think I finally recognize this map. Think it’s the one where Manti kills Sister P? Anyway, shades of old stuff: Got an ally waiting… Speaking of allies and waiting: You can hop in ANY time, lady! NOTE: I think all allies are set to passive. In this case, the melee ally almost has to have enemies led to her. As far as Aisynia, above, I can’t tell if she’s set to passive or has non-combat abilities. She did mention being able to do a spell. Anyway, this is why I tend to set my allies (the ones who can fight) to aggressive. I’d rather see them engage than stare at the player (bear in mind, this behavior may have nothing to do with the design choices. You never know with AE.). Speaking of allies (again): Reen the Paladin withered away at the red crystal. Her sacrifice is noted (and exceedingly questioned).:-) So, Boss fight coming up. And we’re in that magic zone: Super buff a-comin’! Boss fight requires one big DEF Insp and some jousting. Right after boss goes down, we level, free a hot chick, and: It’s a good…feeling. A really good feeling…:-) So, what about this fine arc? Good stuff: *Clean, clean, clean. Care and consideration have been taken with every step. Wish mine would be that clean. *An interesting mix of enemies. I like seeing how typical enemies synergize outside their usual groups. *Atmosphere: In map choices and some creepy, archaic sounding names Like Malesh’Kor (which probably means Heart of Evil, or Bad Sandwich Maker) *Big Bosses were memorable, because they were not overused. I think I had 1 red boss (Orion) and some Oranges. That’s about right for my L12 Sent (not L13, muthas!). *Reen hit HARD (when she hit). Tweaks: *It is Clue heavy, and I mean heavy. All of them are well-written, spelling out the details of the deeper story. Whether this is a tweak or not depends on whether the player likes clues. If so, this may not be an issue at all. *Mission end summaries: These are not needed. They eat up a lot of space in the Clues stream, and tell us what we already know. Put them in the badge (reward) verbiage at mission’s end. *Runaround mish: there’s a lot of back and forth in M3. I like that map, but maybe we need a bigger map to keep the player moving forward instead of back and forth. *Allies: Passive settings make Reen less likely to engage unless the player/she is hit with an atack first. Aisynia did not engage at all, which leads me to believe she’s set to non-combat. If so, I’m not sure why she’s there. I’d set Reen to aggressive, since she’s melee. Aisynia needs to be looked at. If she’s not there to help combat, she needs to be set to no follow and have a reason to remain behind. Or give her a camera to record my stylin’.:-) OVERALL: 5/5 Giving this a 5 despite the tweaks. It’s just a really well-done, self-contained arc. It’s loaded with lore, uses evocative maps (which look really good on my new system):-) Play this if: *You’re magic-origin. *You enjoy a rich, detailed story. *You want a well-crafted experience, rendered with great detail and love for the subject. Don’t play if: *You’re not a clue reader. Because you’ll miss everything, buddy. That’s it for now. Happy fall, everyone! Yours in AE story-ishness, Crane

I think I would like to appropriate the title of this thread as the biography of my adolescence and dating life that followed 🙂

Thanks for doing that. I've been mainly dropping in crafted enhancements. Acro managed to slot a few of them as he trekked to 50. I'm thinking Tracklash may be my next focus. He's not too far off. Either that, or maybe try to actually run a Savage Melee up, as that's a set I've barely used. Teaming's hard, fer sure. My own time has been more limited, for various reasons.

It was. Now, get in the van with the nice men.:-)

Real life, and altaholism. It's a thing.:-) Gonna hop over to Torch and run Tracklash a bit. My wrists need a break from all the Excel speedaround.:-)

Running a new DEF on Excel today. Just happened to get a huge assist from: Okami led us all around Paragon. Unlocked all of paragon for LR TP. Salutes!

This is true. Only thing not addressed is what team members do in the mishes (in-mission conduct). "Dirty Farmers" recruit sitters more often than "Real Superheroes," making for more teams with passive members (though, to be honest, I haven't been on a typical mish team in HC that's had designated sitters). Farmers can also tailor enemies to fit their specific strengths, whereas a "real superhero" who isn't cherry-picking every mish enemy type has to engage outside their optimal comfort zone from time to time. But as far as framework? Yeah, it's the same game. And, now that I think about it, if I'm crafting a character who basically just runs the same set of TFs and little else, aren't I just farming in a different way? Hmmm..maybe we're all dirty son's-a-bitches.:-)

Well, there it is. I shoulda read first.:-)

I'd certainly like to see your idea implemented. I do think it's more labor intensive than we think, because whatever they use to script has to be different than what players have. You can tell that by playing their mishes (branching dialogue, objective placement, on-screen text, cut scenes, exiting from one map to another map while still on the same mish chain). But the demand for this seems a lot lower than for just about everything else (powersets, hardmode content, costumes, and so on). Not to mention just maintenance and troubleshooting (tickets and such). They have a big job. I'm not sure whether any of that could be farmed out to the community, nor to whom they would farm it out (nor whether they should, since I don't know what effect that would have on the game as a whole). I think they could get some folks who'd work on it if they wanted, but then that's just more gears to maintain, so...I dunno, man. I'd be down to try, though. And I know some other folks far smarter than me that would, also.

Hey, y’all! The SGM will be running’ around tonight. You feel like slappin’ down some bad guys (or the reverse), hit me up! Meantime, stay sharp in the saddle, hombres. H’YAH!

To the game: To NCsoft:

I'm with @The_Warpact when it comes to the effects of incarnates. While we can still choose our own endgame, thus eschewing the entire path (and its power construction minigame) if we want. But, if we do that, we're locked out of some of the content. I guess if a player doesn't dig Incarnate material, fine. But someone who might want to play everything is going to be forced into the incarnate mini-game of power tiers and all the associated salvage and construction and slotting and everything else. Feels like it would've made more sense to devise additional content that a basic character could play, rather than create an additional tier that necessitates a new set of just plain stuff. This is also the reason I've run those paths very few times. Never have liked having to mumbo-jumbo my way through an additional lair of bullshit, just as I had reached the supposed pinnacle. But, if I want to "actually" be at the peak (or even survive at the wang-waving level), then, well, I'm just gonna have to play a new game of crafting. Anyway, been there, done that with a few toons. Now I just don't bother anymore. If I get a char to 50, I just pretend Mender Jackass and all those guys just don't really exist.:-)

There’s room for all us Graybelockses (and Baldikockses).:-)

My current favorite, after all the “the game’s too easy” stuff we saw, are some of the comments on the new TF settings — “it’s too hard.” We have unleashed our inner Goldilocks.:-)

I like playing the regular story content. I prefer doing it with teams, but, since I seldom form them myself anymore, I mainly get teaming via pug TF's. I like making story-focused AE arcs, and playing through them from time to time (I should do more, but I feel compelled to review or give feedback, so it's like giving myself homework). I just love the damned game, all the way around. So, yeah - playing is the reward.:-)