[Heroic] Arc 3328 - Escalation

[FemFury]

It starts with a frustrating encounter with a minor super-powered crook, and spirals out of control in a cycle of escalation.

 

Many heroes have that one villain who is just obsessed with taking them out.  See what it is like to have your very own.

 

Arc ID:  3328

 

*****

 

On live servers, the arc got a Dev's Choice.  And also had 5-star reviews from both Venture and PoliceWoman.

 

Back in the day, I commissioned a promotional "poster" for the arc, although it does have the Arc ID from live servers.

Looks like artist still has it posted:  https://www.deviantart.com/bambs79/art/Escalation-124642602

 

I'd be interested in hearing from people if it still holds up, so many years later.

 

 

 

 

 

[GamerKate]

Great poster!

 

And it rings a bell, for sure, I wonder if I reviewed it too back then. I’ll check when I get home from work.

 

And I’ll play it again when I have a toon at an appropriate level :D

 

MCM

[FemFury]

Great poster!

 

And it rings a bell, for sure, I wonder if I reviewed it too back then. I’ll check when I get home from work.

 

And I’ll play it again when I have a toon at an appropriate level :D

 

MCM

 

It is a pretty darn cool poster, isn't it?

 

Glad it rings a bell!  I am pretty sure you reviewed it on the old live servers.

 

And, yeah, make sure you have a character who is developed enough to take the challenge. With the arc having the name it does, it wouldn't make much sense for the final mission to be a pushover.  :)

[GamerKate]

I have a lot of my old reviews stored, if you like I could post the review I did back then. If you’d rather I wait till I’m higher, I can do that.

 

Or I can do both! :D

 

MCM

[FemFury]

I have a lot of my old reviews stored, if you like I could post the review I did back then. If you’d rather I wait till I’m higher, I can do that.

 

Or I can do both! :D

 

MCM

 

Well, the arc can definitely use the plays on the new servers.  But it would certainly be neat to see the old review, if you have it.  It's up to you, but I'd certainly vote for "do both".  :)

[The Cheshire Cat]

Oh hey welcome back! I remember running this way back when you first posted it - I think it was one of the best examples of how to structure a MA arc on there.

[Sakai]

Well you caught my interest.

 

What is the level range?

[FemFury]

Oh hey welcome back! I remember running this way back when you first posted it - I think it was one of the best examples of how to structure a MA arc on there.

 

Thanks so much for saying that!

 

I've spent no time playing actual AE arcs since the "homecoming", but when I saw it was back, I made a note that "Astoria in D Minor" would be one of the first things I would get around to playing.  I remember it felt like the first time I really saw a strong sense of MOOD to an AE arc, and really made me think that the Architect has even more potential for storytelling that most realized.  Although my preferences for horror lean more towards "Lovecraft Lite", with heroes fighting back against the darkness (I play the Eldritch Horror board game with friends almost weekly), I was really glad that someone wrote about Astoria as real genre horror, in a psychological sense.

[FemFury]

Well you caught my interest.

 

What is the level range?

 

tl;dr: I'd advise 38 to 50 for the arc

 

 

Longer answer:

 

Well, back on live, I managed to handle the arc in testing with characters ranging from 25 up to 50.  Back in the day, I made sure to finish the arc solo with all hero archetypes, for test purposes (although, I think the Defender had to be a purple IO character to do it)

 

To be honest, it ramps up to a pretty tough fight at the end.  I know some people grabbed teams to finish it.  And in his review, Venture mentioned getting trounced in mission 5, but heading back in with a whole bunch of high-level inspirations for some very satisfying revenge.

 

I worry that the last mission will be too tough for some, but also, the final fight could easily be too much of a cakewalk for a fully IO'd out or heavily Incarnate characters that are around nowadays.  Several fans of the arc did tell me they didn't mind a few losses in last mission, as they could get back in, and enjoy overcoming it, and it fit the story.  Also, there is a custom character faction of minions, which will probably be just fine, or even on the easy side, near standard difficulties, but if you play on something crazy, like +4x8, you better be badass or the synergies between minions may get rough.

 

I would try to use higher level characters, with a good range of their abilities.

[Sakai]

Lol. Now that I think about it I ran this lived and loved it.

 

I'm sure I will again.