Ankylosaur

That’s great feedback, thank you! Getting the Shivans to spawn at that level does make them all bosses, as they are all EBs really. That’s a good call out on the Dark Watchers tone. I will take a pas to make it feeel more authentic. I was not as careful with his voice in this rewrite so will try to tighten it up. M1 and M2 are meant to be investigation/discovery missions where you uncover things to pursue/resolve but by the nature of the surprise attack and urgent response they are meant to set the tone in a “show don’t tell” sort of way. M1 was a map I felt compelled to use for obvious reasons, but there is not much you can do there. M2 on the other hand is really large, and better shows the chaos. I did get a little indulgent with including all the Hearts of Darkness, but as you say it’s M3 where you really form a plan on how to retaliate. I will think about how I can make them feel more purposeful, and part of including the Shining Stars was to ant least bridge them with something that connects them. Also will look for that high perception and tune down some of custom Skull. (I think I over corrected there-everything the map they fought in battles wiped the floor with them.). Likely will boost the low end of the missions to 40 also, or even 45 to accounts for those Shivans. It’s an end game kind of story after all. As to the typos and other issues, will get on those, and I appreciate you capturing them. Thanks for all the feedback! That’s a lot to go on and to refine.

I managed to work with it, but it has other issues too - namely involving Allies. They follow you through the portal to the back room, but get stuck there. They can also easily wander into the pits of doom. They did say that there will be fixes to the map in page 3.

If, at the same time, something could help prevent the AI of allies from wandering into the green pit at the entry or middle, that would be a nice refinement too. Also - allies who enter the back room never advance from the portal - they are just stuck there

Going to put in some design notes here soon - spoilers though, and it all kind of presumes you played it before or read the thread linked above.. It all began with the new Rikti Space Station map. I figured it would make a great replacement for M5. But as soon as I started to tinker a little, I realized I wanted to tinker a lot to address some of the above...

So after a few years hiatus, I started working on an update to a story I pulled down ages ago: I always liked the bones of it, but there were a few things lacking to me. I wanted to use "space" maps and aliens, but that meant two very similar asteroids, and no spaceships at the time. I wanted to use both Shivan types, but that meant some level changes, and the reasons were thin. I wanted to use "new stuff," like maps, and powers, and those are not new anymore - e.g. a Khalisti office is hardly novel and was a bit shoehorned in fit the space alien theme. I did not give great motivation to the player - some of the missions were sort of handed out, without a player really discovering the reason to pursue the next one on their own. I tried to follow the AMA Lore too much, even though it did not work super well and the finale kind of sprung a bit out of nowhere I later realized, in any telling of the Shivans/Battalion, Dillo should probably play a role. So, now, I give you a massively rebuilt arc, much on the original theme, but bigger, better (I hope), and more powerful than before. The Coming Storm: Menders' Game. Arc ID 69684 I am sure there are some typos in there, there always are, and I will be running through it all several more times to try to find them all while it is still marked Looking for Feedback. And I am! So please feel free to share feedback, and please be generous with stars in its early days. I will try to incorporate all the feedback I receive to make it the best it can be.

Understandably! Not too far off from my Anky. The original on live was a Spines/Regen Scrapper, and all green, and loads of fun. Simple costume so the Spines could shine in contrast. All tights with the Insect skin. Just happened to be the toon I logged in with when they handed out Globals, and, well, here I am. 🙂 i remade him here, but never took him past level 4 - though I do log in as him to author sometimes. (P.S. So great to see the run-through of All That Glows 2! All That Glows 3 is a Dev's choice believe it or not - more on that later, but a few tidbits added above now that you are done.)

Now that you have been through just about all of the All That G... stuff, I thought it might be handy to have a timeline of "when" you "were" in Praetoria and elsewhere because of time travel. This is all from memory so I may miss something 🙂 All That time Travel and the Praetorian trips timeline (Spoilers but not for anyone who has read Engineria's journeys)

Oh thanks! That is important story context for me too...

I suspect it was a map that they found in development and have been sitting on in they wanted to use it - and finally decided not to use it. Eventually, someone decided to roll it into AE because it was a nice asset not being used anywhere but it may not have gone through a lot of testing though as a result. Would be fun to knwo the real story though of where it came from and how it ended up in AE. It is obviously originally for a TF or Trial or something.

Agreed - and I was planning to explain the lava parts, the cannon parts and work within the quirks/interesting parts of the map - but the final room boss getting teleported to a place you can't fight them is map-breaking. Since the map is a relatively new feature Homecoming introduced, I posted it as a bug. Fingers crossed that something comes from it. For now, I will maybe try to work within the limitations and keep the encounters to the front/middle level, while giving players A LOT of info about how to proceed.

tldr; a boss, placed in the back, is teleported to the "green death pit" of the middle level upon the player entering the back room. This makes the boss unable to be fought. While I love the new Rikti Map's feel, it is a very complicated one, obviously part of a trial or something. I worked out how to use it, what the microreactors do, and more but ran into the game-breaking bug above. Any time I portal into the back room, my main boss is teleported away before the fight begins. The green pit of death in the middle room is problematic in other ways too, in that allies can get trapped there. They don't seem to die, but rather just stand around, like the teleported boss, making me wonder if they are dead and maybe mid-transport to the map's hospital - but the game does not know how to deal with that with allies? Removing all the "floor is lava" spots might make the map a little easier to use too. Have not tested that much in the back room as I encountered this bug, but worth considering if you do take the time to make your new, very cool, map a little more usable.

Has anyone gotten the Rikti Spacestation map to work for them? First, it feels like I need to give a bucket of info on how to navigate the thing, and how the microreactiors work to remove the shields on the cannons. Then i feel like I need to warn about the "floor is lava" spaces, and accommodate for them somehow with allies, who seem to fall into the middle room's pit in particular, with no way out. And I can't jump down to grab em cause I die since, you know, the floor is lava. And those were going to be cumbersome enough, but then, when I enter the back room through the portal, my big bad and her minions all immediately get teleported up to the middle room into the pit above, where again, lava for me, but they got some fancy shoes or something and stand around all unthreatening-like. Is this all just me? My only path forward feels like maybe ditching the allies, or giving them flight and seeing if that works, and putting the boss on the middle floor avoiding the back altogether - which is not great for a few reasons - not the least of which is that she still may end up in the pit.

Ah - the daring tale of Engineria and the energy-beings-that-live-on-stars-and-take-the-shape-of-beings-they-have-cohabited continues! And with such a large serving of boding! Forboding of the dark comet! (And maybe even some backboding because of the ever persnickety time-travel.) Tidbits and spoilers and the like. Will add in more as you share more of your tale!

Another exciting Engineria journey into the Ankyverse! This time it’s Kheldians and the whole fifth column / council schism. and thanks for finding the typos! Maybe the least played of all of the All That arcs, so definitely benefits from the polish. Tidbits…

Exciting to see Engineeria's run through brain puns unfold! (Let Go of My Ego, Beware the Ids that March, and now Super Ego Maniac) So much better with her telling of it! So many great and funny moments. Tidbit Responses - will add more as she unveils her journey.

And me awhile to realize it! Great read-through with good laughs along the way. Loved to see the grand conclusion through Engineria's eyes. All those missions defeating Pantheon gods on the way to this paid off as you could compel them to a very small degree. That map for the summoning was a handy find - lots of spots for captives - like that Adamastor pic - and helps set the stage for a dramatic finale, and glad it felt like an epic fight! That epilogue is "newish." I felt kind of like I needed to use the Vault of the Mu map in M5 for obvious reasons, but it just fell flat after the epic battle of mission 4. And then, it occurred to me I could do what I did in Glitters, an epilogue mission, which works for a 9 arc series. Sort of a "where are they now" mission that let's you get an in-world "feel" of the changes introduced, by you, through the story. I also originally had the gods you "rescued" in 1-3 escorted to the door - but escorts are never fun. This is also the arc where I started using the term "spirit guides" for these non combat escorts that guide you to an objective. M2 is big and multi-roomed, and M3 has a million forks, so the guides are there point you the right way in what amount to very simple missions to avoid the frustration of hunting for a single objective. And i still wish I found a better character than Finn McCool for the Celtic earth and life aspects of a god there, especially after @Darmian's feedback, but never did. The name is funny though - so that is part of the reason it stayed As to the rest... Can't wait to read Engineria's next adventure!

Like @cranebump said, the story has a beginning middle and end within the arc. Usually starts with some discovery, flows into further complications, uncovers the big plot which often includes a twist, and then lets your toon wrap it all up in a final mission. For me, no mission is a complete story. Standalone arcs tell the story within the arc, but several of mine are part of a bigger series. For most series I break them into little trilogies, that tell and conclude a smaller story in each arc, so you have some closure, but also have through-lines that build to a conclusion of the trilogy, which in turn have through lines for the whole series (All That Glitters and All That Gleams are both 9 arcs that progress from low to high levels this way, in three little trilogies.) Always I did try something like a series of single-mission stories in a single arc once upon a time. It was told in a progressive way, where each mission took place at different level, and zone/mobs appropriate to that level. There were months of time between each mission and your contact, a PPD officer, ranked up in the PPD from mission to mission until he was merged with a Kheldian in the final mission. What was originally the arc "Police vs Aliens" I later split into 3 arcs, added more about the Council/5th Nictus schism, and is now the 3 arc All That Glows series.

Well - thanks to you! If memory serves, you pointed out the Langston trucks by the Maxwell Stadium to me while I was putting that together. In fact, All that Glitters - which in part justifies Langston's expansion to Paragon City through the reclaiming of hazard zones on behalf of the City, helps justify why they are in Kallisti at all. I presume some of the new arcs touch on this (and why Arachnos has a presence) but on the off chance they don't, mine kind of works to do so.

Love the official Langston presence in Kallisti - supports my All That Glitters series almost too well. Updated Calamity in Kalissti Wharf to just reference it a little. And now there are Wyvern higher-level than 44 too - not planning on incorporating them, but still.

No high level Gold Brickers by all those Gold Brick Langston Trucks near the Arena?

Saw that @El Furioso was the creator on the FAQ of the mission review site - perhaps this is the same El Furioso? Maybe and he/she can resurrect this venerable and valuable community resource? https://web.archive.org/web/20110916020239/http://cohmissionreview.com/faq/

Remember this mission directory from days of yore? https://web.archive.org/web/20120428171839/http://cohmissionreview.com//

@LordRassilon has a weekly AE run on Twitch if you can be up at like 3 AM EST 🙂

Because we are anchored in maps in the CoH world, it may be a cop out, but most of the stuff I do anchors itself there. For me, I generally found hooks in the game lore that were not explored that I wanted to explore and find an answer to that satisfied me. This meant they were mostly serious - but its my nature to throw humor in there some of the time and comics often do. Hooks that appealed to me included... Where did the Mercy Serpents come from? Where did the people in the Shard come from? What happened on the Rikti Home World? How did so many gangs start getting and keep getting Praetorian tech? Why does Arachnos leadership stay stable when their history is anything but? What happened to the refugees after refugee island? What happened to Astoria after Mot was destroyed? What happened in the Kheldian schism after the fall of Striga and Arkhn and Requiem after the Marchand Arc? Why would Kheldians keep trying after 2.000 years of failing and bad leadership? What happened to Penelope Mayhem after the Mr G arc? What happened to Mr G's gang? What happened to Scirocco and Mistral after his crisis of "faith?" Why is it important that Moonfire was around 3,000 years ago? Who is the Order of the Wind and why do Scirocco, Ice Mistral, Borea and Levantera and the Dark watcher all have ties there? Did Merulina and Mot exist in other Pantheons or on Praetoria? Why did Helix have Kheldian powers? Why does Infernal's lair on Praetoria look like Oranbega? What happened in Night Ward after the Talons left for Astoria? How is Marshal Blitz still alive all these years after a terminal cancer diagnosis? Stuff like that... And sometimes I had a little idea for fun costumes or maps or mechanics I wanted to use and explored that - like Hammigeddon or Robolution or Spycraft and Spidermen. And then sometimes I just liked trying to take some public domain stuff and retell it as fun romp for people to go through. Half the fun was creating the costumes, the other half was figuring out how to plausibly insert it into the CoH world - like Adventures in Wonderland, Oz, and Neverland. Even in those I would just see what I could muster from the tools at hand. (Neverland definitely took a darker turn than expected! but discovered this french comic along the way that treated Peter Pan VERY differently and inspired my take.) All of it was for the fun of exploring how to craft a good story and adventure with a community eager to give feedback. (Infinite thanks to @Darmian and @Take One for detailed deep edits (and @ZamuelNow when he was Zamuel-back-then on live) and to many many others who shared feedback in DMs and emails and helped me iterate my stories to be a little better for the next runner. + @LordRassilon for the live plays on Twitch for what amounted to invaluable recorded playtests!) Truth is I stopped playing toons myself ages ago - for better or worse writing was my end game experience. Personally got a lot out of it - both from exploring the lore and from a creative outlet where I slowly got a little better over time with the help of generous and great feedback.

Nice effort - I'd limit it to one map per page - and submit a bug ticket with a link to the page once you have a clear charter for it. I'd also suggest updating the first post in the thread with other things you learn in the thread so the devs have one place to look for all the issues/fixes Others of note off the top of my head for future pages Primeva Water Map - has collection points and a rescue/anything point on the map - even in editor preview - that are not available to use (and that i have seen used in game). Praetorian Outdoor Maps - like the Atlas map above, really have a set number of spawn points, but they are duplicated as front and back. (meaning it says there are 18 front and 18 back when there are only 18 total). the net effect is you can put in more than the limit - but those beyond the limit will not spawn. Couple of the Serpent maps - similar to Marchand - have limited spawn points in their "special" rooms Atlas meteor map - can't do a defeat all since you must defeat the meteor Prison Maps - interestingly, these notoriously don't work for the 5th column/Council and Cot maps - but they do for Longbow. I suspect this is because the "Prison Door" is in the Longbow mob but missing from the CoT, Council and 5th. To see this, if you add a boss to any map, add Longobow as the group, and scroll way past all those longbow bosses to pick the boss - you will find a Reinforced Door (or something like that) you can add. (I use them as portals you need to destroy sometimes). Worth seeing if just adding their respective prison doors to those mobs fixes their prison maps - at least when their signature groups are named as the main mob of the base.