Shining Stars

[Techwright]

Just for kicks, I did the Shining Stars arc in Atlas with a new character, something I've not done since probably 2019.   At the end, it notes the Stars get a re-assignment to Kings Row.

 

Do they have another arc there that I've never noticed?  If not, was that intended as a hint that in the original game at some point there was supposed to be another arc in KR?

 

(Side note:  if they could ever fix the Stars bizarre pattern of running around you like moths to a flame, the arc might actually be somewhat enjoyable.)

[Andreah]

Shining stars? Yes, I remember them. ... they should all be destroyed, or at least shot into the Sun.

[Skyhawke]

DId you do the Shining Stars arc all the way through Steel Canyon? It's a fairly long story arc that, yes can seem tedious to vets, but does have heart to it. This link shows you the arc progression.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Twinshot

[Snarky]

There are 3 shining stars arcs.  5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and that is it.  Partway through (end of first arc?) they get a base upgrade.  I run it for badges 2-3 times a year.  It is,…. Not a favorite 

[Andreah]

Serious reply, I'm not a huge fan of the Shining Stars, but the stories are undeniably well written.

[Psyonico]

Part of the Kings Row GM event is an optional “rescue the Shining Stars”

[Snarky]

3 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Part of the Kings Row GM event is an optional “rescue the Shining Stars”

....what?

[Psyonico]

3 minutes ago, Snarky said:

....what?

I’m wrong…

 

the event that has that portion no longer exists in game

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/The_Clockwork_Paladin

[MTeague]

The Redside counterpart "Hearts of Darkness" mission arcs, lack only one thing. You're not allowed to actually murder all of them at the end of the last arc. Sure sure, during the arcs, there's reasons to hold back. After the arcs, when half of them have promised that they'll get you, and your little dog, too, really, why aren't you perrmitted to just END THEM, once and for all, right then, right there?

 

Sigh. 

 

Shining Stars, I mostly like their arcs. Mostly. Dillo is amusing. Grym is a Good Boi, and you should be able to give him treats. Twinshot should stop calling you kiddo all the darn time, but hey, sometimes people use annoying figures of speech in real life, too. 

 

Definitely treat some of those arcs similar to 1-20 Praetoria arcs.

• Timed waves where you may not always finish the last one before the next shows up.
• Laser guided ambushes that do not care about Hide,
• a mix of damage types you may have no defenses against at low levels.
• You may find it extremely punishing if your difficulty is increased too much.

They feel like they're meant for team play with co-operative missions enabled. Though I still solo them because I'm a stubborn sonofa.

[Scarlet Shocker]

There's very little I like about these characters. I must confess I've never run either arc through to completion but "<horb> I am making air sounds at you" seems to be the pinnacle.

 

I get that the OG devs felt they needed to give a bit of new content for newcomers with Freedom but actually the original arcs were not so bad and actually offered more choice whereas these arcs streamline and offer less choice.

 

If I had the choice to punch every single NPC I interact with in the titsicles at the earliest opportunity and then stomp on their face I'd have enjoyed them all a lot more.

 

May have been problematic for a PG16 game though

[The Trouble]

I find the crafting badges less tedious than these arcs.... but the Shining Star/Brightest Sun/Supernova titles were way too good for my Peacebringer to ignore.

[Snarky]

6 hours ago, The Trouble said:

I find the crafting badges less tedious than these arcs.... but the Shining Star/Brightest Sun/Supernova titles were way too good for my Peacebringer to ignore.

Damn. Just…. Damn. 

[Andreah]

Jingle bells, Shining Stars,
Bumbling all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to see
The villain slip away!

 

Twinshot took the lead,
With her guns held high,
But she shot the ceiling down,
And debris filled the sky.

 

Jingle bells, Shining Stars,
Bumbling all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to see
The villain slip away!

Proton’s clone-tech whirred,
From dimensions afar,
But he warped himself to France,
Now he’s lost in a bar.

 

Jingle bells, Shining Stars,
Bumbling all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to see
The villain slip away!

 

Dillo’s hoorb rang out,
In the snowy fray,
Slipped on icy ground,
And rolled into the bay.

 

Jingle bells, Shining Stars,
Bumbling all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to see
The villain slip away!

 

Flambeaux flipped her hair,
Flames on grand display,
But she torched her own costume,
And ran screaming away.

 

Jingle bells, Shining Stars,
Bumbling all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to see
The villain slip away!

 

Grym sniffed out the foe,
With his hound-like flair,
But he chased a squirrel instead,
Left the team in despair.

 

Jingle bells, Shining Stars,
Bumbling all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to see
The villain slip away!

[UltraAlt]

10 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I get that the OG devs felt they needed to give a bit of new content for newcomers

 

It wasn't "new content for newcomers". It was funneling to put new players into the choice of two contacts.

 

Before, on the hero side, your character would be sent to their origin contact. Your new character and the new characters made up by four friends could end up with characters with 5 different contacts if they all have a different origin.

 

CoV and CoH:GR ignore origins entirely other than in character creation and enhancements.

 

[Andreah]

20 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

Before, on the hero side, your character would be sent to their origin contact. Your new character and the new characters made up by four friends could end up with characters with 5 different contacts if they all have a different origin.

 

This is the main reason (apart from the character designs, which are a matter of taste) I don't like these stories. It's too much funneling. 

[tidge]

The Kings Row Paladin event Featuring... the Shining Stars!... was discontinued, because it was just as likely to bug out as it was to work as intended. If it worked "correctly", it was possible to leverage the Shining Stars to solo the Paladin with characters that otherwise wouldn't be able to solo it (with or without powers and levels from 45+).

 

I agree with @MTeague that the redside version is somewhat unsatisfying considering what your character has to put up with... at least with the Shining Stars I feel like every character who plays that arc essentially just out grows them.

 

I suppose those arcs are fine as the introductory "let's get you to learn some of the game/world mechanics", but by the time they were introduced the development team had reached the point where they were doing things I didn't care for: destroying Galaxy City, adding all sorts of Primal <-> Praetoria connections that nobody asked for, and in general adding NPC content that appeared to take a lot of agency away from players to focus on NPCs. I'm sure somebody thought the Incarnate content was an interesting set of well-written stories... but ultimately they just bore me.

[High_Beam]

Yeah I kind of hate most of the shining stars, especially Twinshot (Kiddo).  Flambeaux makes me laugh straight up, but she was often one of the surviving heroes over and over again when I was doing Wedding runs.  But back to my hate of Twinshot, the worst pathing AI, the worst non-helping helper ever.

 

Ugh.  Plus that I effed the neighbors cat grin of hers.  I wanna punch he rin the face . . . with a forklift.

[Snarky]

The good news is that you can beat the crap out of all the Shining Stars.  The bad news is you have to run one of Dr Graves redside equivalent to do so....

[Skyhawke]

<Hooooorb> Sad exhales for Dillo...

[Scarlet Shocker]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

 

It wasn't "new content for newcomers". It was funneling to put new players into the choice of two contacts.

 

Before, on the hero side, your character would be sent to their origin contact. Your new character and the new characters made up by four friends could end up with characters with 5 different contacts if they all have a different origin.

 

CoV and CoH:GR ignore origins entirely other than in character creation and enhancements.

 

 

Same difference. The origin system worked fine and teaming meant you'd just level through whatever you needed.

 

I don't object to streamlining, but the content just isn't terribly good

[lemming]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

The good news is that you can beat the crap out of all the Shining Stars.  The bad news is you have to run one of Dr Graves redside equivalent to do so....

You get to beat them up in Doc Buzzsaw's mission as well when you raid the prison.

[Parabola]

It never fails to make me laugh that the first arc, unlocked at level 5, has a 'this is what a trainer is' mission.

[Scarlet Shocker]

I always felt like Dillo is missing a d from his name.

[Techwright]

19 hours ago, Skyhawke said:

DId you do the Shining Stars arc all the way through Steel Canyon? It's a fairly long story arc that, yes can seem tedious to vets, but does have heart to it. This link shows you the arc progression.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Twinshot

No I didn't. I read the link provided.  I got through the Atlas missions including "The Lion's Den", talked to Manticore, talked again to Twinshot, was told the Stars were moving to Kings Row, and...that was it.  No offer was made to advance the player (me) to a new set of missions in KR.  My character was still pretty low in rank at the time, so I'm thinking I shouldn't have disqualified due to high security rank.  It was the KR base comment that made me suspect there was more that I was not being shown.

[Skyhawke]

Yeahn 5, 10 and 15 are the levels you get new missions from Twinshot.