I figured out why I enjoy the Faultline arcs.

[Luminara]

I took Antianeira to Faultline this morning.  I'd been looking forward to that since I restarted her, doubly so because my refusal to run the newer arcs has led to a dearth of actual content.  My contacts don't want to talk to me.  Or, they want me to go to Perez Park, or Boomtown, or street sweep in another zone.  Since I'm not doing that, they won't introduce me to other contacts, so it's been mostly radio missions.  Having the guarantee of Faultline's arcs is really one of the better improvements made before the game went under.

 

But that's just appreciation for their availability, it's not why I enjoy them.

 

I hurried through Jimmy's dialogue and rushed to the first mission door, popped in, and was immediately distracted by a ruckus behind me.  Jessica, my cat, was chasing a moth.  Eyes huge, ears perked, leaping and bouncing, almost frantic to catch it.  Which she did.  And ate it.

 

Back to "serious" matters.  I'm plinking away at Lost, smirking a bit because I'm at level 17 now, which means those asshat lieutenants can't stun me, and I see dialogue in the chat window.

 

It's Fusionette!

 

And behind me, Jessica has leapt into the air, spun 180 degrees, landed in perfect Halloween cat pose and is waiting for me to chase her.  This is her "bring it!" behavior.  She loves being chased as much as she loves chasing.  Of course, I stand up and begin the fun with Jessica.  My cat's happiness comes first, in all respects, and if she wants to play when I'm trying to grind out a little more XP after having slept until the ungodly hour of 5 a.m., then I'm playing with my cat.  It doesn't take long, anyway.  She's young, and has an appropriately youthful attention span.

 

I finally make my way to Fusionette and "rescue" her, and rather than lead her to the exit, proceed further into the warehouse.  Hey, free temporary pet, might as well make use of it.  Also, I forgot I was supposed to lead her out until I cleared the rest of the map.  >.>

 

Every spawn we reach, Fusionette goes berserk.  Completely spastic.  "SOMETHING MOVED!  KILL IT!  KILL IT SOME MORE!  SOMETHING ELSE MOVED!  KILL THAT TOO!  AAAAAHHHH!"

 

Simultaneously, Jessica is spazzing out behind me, then under me, then next to me.  For about 10 minutes, I had complete chaos on-screen and off.  Fusionette flipping out every time another kernel in the Jiffy Pop in her skull went off, Jessica climbing the wall and jumping back down onto the love seat, then attacking the jacket I was wearing because my breathing caused it to shift slightly.

 

And I knew, then.  That's why I love encountering Fusionette in missions.  She's completely crazy, in the most fun kind of way.  I like the way she behaves.  I like the way she fights.  The knockback doesn't bother me, it amuses me.  She's not stolid and boring like Illusion Control's Phantasm, even though that's what she should be.  She should be just a Phantasm with some dialogue, but she isn't.  She reacts, and acts, seemingly far more quickly and determinedly than the Phantasm does, and there's almost a sense of glee in her wild use of her powers, like she's just been waiting for the chance.  She's vibrant, dynamic, almost like a...

 

Cat.

 

It's like playing with a young cat, for whom the entire world is a toy and playing is the most important thing in existence.

 

Fusionette is a cat.

 

Awesome.

[MTeague]

[Hexquisite]

28 minutes ago, Luminara said:

And I knew, then.  That's why I love encountering Fusionette in missions.  She's completely crazy, in the most fun kind of way.  I like the way she behaves.  I like the way she fights.  The knockback doesn't bother me, it amuses me.  She's not stolid and boring like Illusion Control's Phantasm, even though that's what she should be.  She should be just a Phantasm with some dialogue, but she isn't.  She reacts, and acts, seemingly far more quickly and determinedly than the Phantasm does, and there's almost a sense of glee in her wild use of her powers, like she's just been waiting for the chance.  She's vibrant, dynamic, almost like a...

 

Cat.

 

It's like playing with a young cat, for whom the entire world is a toy and playing is the most important thing in existence.

 

Fusionette is a cat.

 

Awesome.

This.

 

Seriously, I have never understood the hate Fusionette seems to get. I found her to be an absolute delight from the first moment, and continue to do so. 

[DougGraves]

I thought everyone loved Faultline because the Arbiter was so charming

[Frostbiter]

I run the Faultline arcs for Doc Delilah. Not gonna lie. I laugh every time she just clears the whole mission.

[Hexquisite]

4 minutes ago, Frostbiter said:

I run the Faultline arcs for Doc Delilah. Not gonna lie. I laugh every time she just clears the whole mission.

 

❤️ Doc Delilah ❤️

 

 

❤️❤️ swoons  ❤️ ❤️

Edited September 16, 2020 by Hexquisite

[ZorkNemesis]

12 hours ago, DougGraves said:

I thought everyone loved Faultline because the Arbiter was so charming

Arbiter Sands is admittedly one of my favorite characters in the game due to his dialogue being amazing.  He's always the perfect blend of serious, apathetic and annoyed and I really wish he had a lot more prescense as a recurring character.  I know he appears outside of Faultline; MLTF, Anti-Matter's arc in Neutropolis, and the redside DFB commentary, but he really should be in more places.  I wonder if the original writers had plans for him in potential redside arcs; they don't have an equivilant to Shauna Stockwell/Eagle Eye after all.

[KC4800]

I just did the Faultline arc for Penny Yin so I could unlock Mr. Yin's store. I had not don't that on any character on HC to this point. So...yay! lvl 17 Defender came in handy.

[Onemantankwall]

I love it for the AVs yea its the same 3 reapitivly but they throw a punch no lame named boss can and you face them really often so its not just endless henchman bashing

[Ironblade]

Fusionette is cool.  Here's one of my characters in her Fusionette tribute costume, posing with her.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Faultline is the best.  Great entertaining story arc.  Good rewards in terms of merits/time, including the bonus for finishing all content.  Very few if any pointless "kill 50 rats" type missions.  Opens up Entrusted with the Secret at level 20 through Doc Delilah's arc.  Easily soloable on any AT when set to elite boss, and enough AVs to engage a team when not.

 

I wish they would make something similar for Eden!

[Heraclea]

On 9/16/2020 at 5:37 PM, DougGraves said:

I thought everyone loved Faultline because the Arbiter was so charming

Arbiter Sands and Captain Castillo are two of the most intriguing and best characterized enemies in the game.   The fact that they reappear in the Ms. Liberty and Market Crash TFs adds interest as well. 

 

Still need to do more with Mold Wall, though, 

[RikOz]

The best part of Faultline is definitely punching Castillo.

[Lines]

Yeah, the writers really pinned out how to do compelling recurring characters with Faultline.

 

I'd love that sort of character writing to permeate across all the old content.

[Clave Dark 5]

I'm a bad player in that I rarely do story arcs, just lots of PUGging, so I don;'t know if I've ever done the Faultline story.  But I have set up numerous characters to get the RWZ badges so I can join in mothership raids.  And I have to admit it's a lot of fun to get that one rescue mission with her, because that's exactly how she behaves, like a kitten pouncing on anything you even look towards.

[Soyuz]

On 9/16/2020 at 9:33 PM, Hexquisite said:

Seriously, I have never understood the hate Fusionette seems to get. I found her to be an absolute delight from the first moment, and continue to do so. 

The only NPC that ever irritated me in the slightest is No Mind, who definitely has some sort of death wish. The first character I was actually able to keep him alive with was my Ice/Atomic blastroller. Even my tanker couldn't do it! He's nothing to do with the Faultline arc though.

 

Faultline is great for so many reasons. 'Netty is just one of them. I wish there was more content like it.

[MTeague]

8 hours ago, Soyuz said:

The only NPC that ever irritated me in the slightest is No Mind, who definitely has some sort of death wish. The first character I was actually able to keep him alive with was my Ice/Atomic blastroller. Even my tanker couldn't do it! He's nothing to do with the Faultline arc though.

 

Faultline is great for so many reasons. 'Netty is just one of them. I wish there was more content like it.

No Mind is *very* appropriately named. 

About the only way to make it more fitting is to rename him "Dies A Lot".

[Techwright]

I realize I might be alone in my opinion, but I always saw zany Fusionette as what Harley Quinn might have been had she never been corrupted and instead been a heroic energy blaster.  Maybe a tad less aggressive, though the Ritki currently carpeting that street over there might disagree.  That's the original, animated Harley Quinn mind you.