Ankylosaur

Ah! Another story idea!:-) I'm sure the Television would have pointed point of view...

So, in the back of my mind I had a few things nagging at me to do something about them... Two arcs I liked that I removed from All That Glitters to tighten that up. Good interesting missions/encounters - just a little superfluous to that story. A Praetorian mob that clearly has a presence based on the Mr. G arc, that I never leveraged in my "All That" series - The Syndicate. An idea to fit Rikti Monkeys into a little story. I give you Monkey Business 1: Hunky Monkeys Monkey Business 2: Funky Monkeys If you played the All That Glitters arcs set in St. Martial and the RWZ in their previous incarnation, some of this will be familiar, but there are new mobs, and a new story unpinning all of it, and nary a Gold Bricker or Mook to be seen throughout.

I'd suggest also putting the notes about the other arcs in the Souvenir Clue to help the person find the arc names/ids later. Good luck!

A funny state to be in. Dev's Choice, Hall of Fame - 0 plays. 🙂 In updating it I did minimally updated a few mob's powers. For example, the Rocking Horse Fly now is music control rather than sonic to better emphasize the "Rocking" (its two puns for the price of one.)

😞 Clicked the wrong button. Then confirmed it. Sadly, I went to edit this Dev's choice arc, and knowing I would have to confirm that I wanted to edit a Dev's choice and risk losing that Dev's choice by clicking OK in a dialog box, I clicked OK without paying any attention. I was going to add a suggestion at the end from the main character, who is a Librarian, to try out Adventures in Neverland and Adventures in Oz since those have had only handful of plays when they first launched. And gone are the 787 reviews and 5 stars, eliminating the benefit of suggesting people try something else if they found this one, because they won't ever find this one. 🙂 Adding to it, the version I have locally is not up to date. it's not that far off, at least I think it's not, there's no way to know! 🙂 At least the updated characters are in their custom mobs so not that hard to rebuild. The GMs will kindly reinstate its Dev's Choice status when I republish. Oh well, back down the rabbit hole...

@Cobalt Arachne - long before the release of this Strike Force, I had been working on a series pitting the Gold Brickers against Aeon, with Wyvern as your ally. It also dealt with the fallout of the Fall of Praetoria and how some groups were gaining advantage with the influx of people and new tech. It starts at level one and evolves through to level 54. Your update was a huge boon though it meant a big rework. If you ever want to see how someone leveraged some of your material, (and have some time on your hands 🙂 ) you take All That Glitters AE arc for a spin. It's not a short road, but hopefully a fulfilling one, and you'll see how I worked in Zoe and Mr. Rodney, The Smelters and the AU Gold Brickers, and more. Loved reading the above to see how and why you implemented some of the things you did. Selfishly, loved all the costume elements, maps, and mobs that were a fallout of it.

I regularly have different contacts in the narrative through a variety of means, but of course the main contact is the same. Approaches Most often, I have you in a room with several people. In some, as you rescue people in missions, they join the conversation. For this, I give each person their own color, but also have "says" text like "Hello, says Dr. Smith, it's good to meet you $name." because I don't expect the player to remember the colors - they are just visual cue. I will say more than three people can get a bit unwieldy, but I have done it. And this does not jive well with all players. I have had people off screen, so the contact says "Let me give Dr. Smith a call. Check back with me in a minute." at the end of the return text, and when you click the contact again for the next mission, they have completed the call and something like "Good news! Just got off the phone with Dr. Smith. He finished his tests and here is what he learned." I have used Mission Begin clues, which trigger after the player accepts, to have emails show up as pings on your phone of a new message. In at least one arc, the email thread builds over the whole arc with CC's as more people come into the convo. I have used an object, like your laptop, so each message can be formatted like and email and be from a different person or an evolving person. I have had a character evolve over a mission that way and the idea was the missions had months between them. He started as a beat cop and each mission changed levels to show the passage of time. So when you met him in each mission, he was a higher level and a higher rankin the PPD until he transformed as a Kheldian. (That evolved into a series so now it just happens in my Nictus series, All That Glows - what was originally called Police vs. Aliens.) YMMV 🙂

I'd also suggest putting in a lot of notices about choosing option B will say MISSION FAILED in large unfriendly red letters, but that it is not actually a fail, just option B. I know in the few times I have purposely given options like that, the big MISSION FAILED message makes it feel like the player made the wrong choice.

As @cranebump says, the first two issues may be map related. I know, for example, on Croatoa maps where there are no doors, they have nowhere to escape too and that can cause issues. As to the second one. Here's tactics I have used/seen Escorts are a way to have someone say something during part of a mission when they reach their objective. Make them non-required, but still give them rescue Nav text and then you skirt the issue of the mission failing if they die. Like @cranebump suggested clues are another. One I have never tried, but saw in "The news of my death is not exaggerated" (or similarly named dev's choice), is to have the rescue not flee, but instead stand there with some sort of clue to you to read their description to converse with them. Clever way to get 1000 characters or whatever the limit is there.

It caused me to shorten Glitters to good effect... 🙂

I can call this done! Let's talk outcomes of the revamp rather than specifics. MUCH tighter story - By consolidating things from the 15 eliminated missions that were a little empty after the ConDev pirates were removed, into 3.2 and earlier arcs - it is much better pacing to reach the conclusion of the story. More depth - as several one time bosses/encounters are now secondary and tertiary characters with through-lines across arcs. Richer Gold Bricker motivation - Since it is clearer earlier that Midas is missing, this adds additional motivations to the Gold Brickers, and one updated "scene" in particular gives you a better personal encounter with that. Also clearer the frenemy situation with Arachnos and increasing the tension with Aeon. (The fact that Aeon never retaliated after everything that happened in Cap was a real miss on my part before.) Richer Mook story - Their role in spreading Praetorian tech is more present earlier and throughout. Vigilante role reinforced - You are at odds with the City and others, and connected to Wyvern, more consistently. Premise-reinforcing scene locations - the idea that Langston is expanding in hazard zones is reinforced by every arc having one outdoor map there. Removing the St Martial and RWZ arcs concentrates on the expansion. (While The Rikti War Zone technically is a hazard zone, Langston was not expanding there.) In general, I also came up with some more interesting mechanics for a few of the most significant scenes - nothing incredible, but things that make maps a bit more exciting and evolving. Won't spoil them, but pleased with how some of the other little "gameplay" updates impacted the overall experience too. If you have not taken All That Glitters for a spin, now would be a good time! 🙂

Another amazing Engineria episode! So great to see all of this unfold through her eyes. And faced with her perseverance and resilience, the COT turning to more wine does seem like maybe the best way to deal with that; Maybe with a little spooky bacon snack on the side. 🙂 This arc definitely starts to tie together how and what has been happening. But more exciting reveals about the why and who ahead in the final trilogy! p.s. My comment about Pendy's phone may be in the next one. Think I got my wires crossed. 🙂

Pendragon always seemed a little ridiculous to me with his bulky armor and ginormous sword and earnestness, so I sort of wrote him that way. Author's bias slipped in there... Made him much more fun to write though and hopefully tag along with! 🙂 Thought it was funny thinking of him trying to use a phone in his gauntlets too, as well as getting used to our tech. Maybe I was channelling my father's challenges with his phone. But the phone plays a key role, and he surprises you in the end with it, as you know...

🙂 I think I may remember some of those 🙂

Very late to this but sad news. Heraclea was always active in AE back in the day and I enjoyed her (his) arcs... http://web.archive.org/web/20120905041527/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=233077

The updates have been slowly progressing. Honestly, got a little discouraged as someone recently played the finale, and its score dropped to 4 stars. I totally get someone not liking it, and understand it could be for a variety of reasons Typos - maybe I've missed some or an update made something incongruent? Story - maybe they don't like that my story proposes changing up the leadership / power struggle of the isles - for some that might be too much for an AE arc. Or maybe they don't like the morally ambiguous options and feel forced to pick between two bad ones. Mechanics - maybe if they choose the path that gives you mission failed notice (even though its not a failure - just option B) or maybe they did not like having so many allies in Grandville to gather, even though it serves as sort of a reunion for the series. Something else - could be something I have not thought of at all! Maybe its too easy or tough? But here's the thing - if someone hated it and wants to give it a 1 to drop the score that's ok, I can't help how they feel, and as long as it's honest I even appreciate it. But by giving me zero feedback, I also can't learn from your experience or try to improve it for others. That's the frustrating part - no written feedback. I know there is no way to please everyone and, especially if its story based, I probably couldn't improve it, but I can say, based on early feedback I even changed who the main enemy was here, so I am always open to refining and improving. 🙂 Said another way - written feedback is always welcomed and appreciated. Oh well - what can you do? 🙂 Here's the more distinctive edits so far but it is not poilished and there are still a few open ideas, namely around Midas and William Langston. Will still progress slowly as I have a lot of RL things going on at the moment.

Unquestionably. We all learn from one another. I do you use your [Front] [Mid] [Back] sometimes for mission objectives. Who even recalls what other things I might have seen somewhere else first and thought do something similar with too.

Yep - here's a short list off the top of my head - may be more I am not thinking of Wyvern goes to 44 Luddites go to 50 Awakened goes to 50 Maybe Hellions go higher than listed too, like 20?

@raven9864 - I'd maybe try the others and wait for the consolidation. 🙂 Saves you some time and should be a better experience for it.

Been doing a lot of work tightening Glitters. @TerroirNoir recently ran through it, and mentioned it was long, and I have been thinking about how to improve that. The thing is, I agree. It meanders a bit after 3.1, especially since the Aeon Strike Force came out. After that I removed two entire mob groups and their plots and that made some of the high level stuff a little thin. In thinking through the Glitters stuff, I am considering doing something kind of drastic - consolidating. The thing is - the payoff of the story is worth it - its just a VERY long road to get there. How this Started This started with me trying to make 2.3 a little better. I notice a drop off at 2.3 and 3.1, leading me to think 2.3 needs something more compelling and that they see such a long road to conclusion they lose interest. So introduced the Praetorian cargo transport portals earlier, in 2.3 (from 4.2) along with the Praetorian tech shoppers (from 4.1 and 4.2) and the Rikti Portal Stabilizers from 4.1). They make 2.3 better. But, learning the Gold Brickers are supplying everyone, and that the Mooks continue to help with that are some of the few main points of 3.2 (the Mook involvement), 4.1 (selling to the Council and getting Rikti tech) - making those. a tad redundant. Paring Redundancy I think I can elminate 15 missions combine 3.3 and 4.2 completely remove 3.2: Suspicious Maneuvers in St Martial and completely remove 4.1: Risky War Games in the Rikti War Zone. place important clues from the eliminated missions throughout the series Though I love a few of the scenes in Glitters 3.2 (using all the little casinos for St Martial and the Network dup) it diverges from the Gold Bricker expansion in Paragon by taking you back to the isles. And though there are some great fights in 4.1 (Rikti Freaks, Councilvania and the Goliath assault on Vanguard), they don't do a ton to move the story forward in ways that are not covered (or could be covered) elsewhere (Since All That Glows and All That Glints cover the Council in the post Striga world). Especially now that the ConDev pirates are gone, andthat the Revenant Scavengers are gone, I also think I could maybe combine bits of 3.3 and 4.2 into a single arc - taking the best/most critical of each. Ultimately it would take it from what amounts to 12 arcs to 9 which is much more approachable. Also it makes for a tighter experience since again, a few arcs don't really advance the plot much, just give you a few new lenses into it. Refining Threads Other things I would need to account for Rikti tech would probably go into the lab with the Lost (2.2) to show it being acquired earlier (rather than 4.1). This justifies the Langston Labs Xenologists earlier thought which is good. Vanguard is less involved, so Number One will need to still be included as Vanguard needs to supply portal trips to Praetoria. (Losing 4.1 loses him as a contact.) New Praetorians may not be involved at all. They are met in 4.1 and were the main contacts/allies in 4.2 but the switching away from Wyvern at high levels as your main contacts is part of what makes it feel like it is meandering a bit. The reason you meet them is because of the Council involvement, which is also a big part of 4.1, and now handled in All That Glows and All That Glints. Sgt Schrorr and all his St Martial contacts (e.g. Network and Colleague) are not introduced since 3.2 will be removed. I may need to work that in in text only as Colleague is a conduit into the Arachnos stuff. Sadly 3.2 loses another Duke Mordrogar failed demon summoning attempt with the Wailers - the poor Duke... Clarifying The Conflict Also this gives me a chance to tighten the main "enemy." If you have played "The Ghost in The Machine" you know my original premise here was that King Midas was digitized by Aeon. This is why no one had seen him for years. There's lore to kind of support the idea, with an intern "going missing" in Egon's (Aeon's) lab and because Aeon designed the AE. When the Aeon Strike Force introduced a new King Midas, I swapped who was digitized to William Langston, (King Midas' dad in my story) and Midas plays a small role. I think I may fix that too. The Doctor's story and Infini-Life - which relate to restoring a digitized person, gets less air time and I love those bits, but I think it is ok. No one really plays them anymore though - so not sure it's worth it - but been noodling on this for a few weeks which means I will probably get around to it one day. So "Suspicious Maneuvers in St. Martial" and "Risky War g4meZ in the Rikti War Zone" may not not be around for too much longer.

Oh - and - let's say you put all the Shivans in a custom enemy group, because you have a Shivan in that group that spans the higher levels, I think, if you make the mission that level, the one Shivan will spawn at higher levels. They'll all be EBs I think, but there it is. I did this and it was torturous for the few that tried it.

I agree - a lot of potential in Boomtown. I did a long AE series where a part of the premise was that Langston Corp was getting grants to revitalize hazard zones, as the only ones willing to do it, and bringing along the Gold Brickers as "security" for the hazard zones. "Boom Time in Boomtown" was the first arc I wrote in the series - but its been filled in with several before and after now. Even in that - the potential of so many gangs controlling the vast area, and the potential of so many secrets in those ruined buildings, was compelling to write to. It's across the river so separated from so much of Paragon City - it "feels" further removed than Croatoa which has a University active.

You can't scale them. Occasionally, entire mobs are labelled incorrectly in AE. An example are the Luddites, who were updated with the Aeon Strike Force and now scale to level 50. I could put together list of these mobs I think. Much rarer, a single enemy in a mob is labeled incorrectly because they appear as "pets" or "summonable" examples include the Coralax Warder or, yes, your Shivan...

And I have updated the numbering on Glimmers to make it simpler too. My original idea was to create a series that went from 1 - 54 with arcs and a story that progresses in levels. That was Glitters. So when I then did Glimmers, which starts in the 20's, I followed the Glitters numbering scheme. In the end that did not really help anyone at all. 🙂 My hesitation to renumber was for @TerroirNoir, as he is mid-series in his cable channel, and @Zhym, who's TV guide documents that. But, in the end, I decided to proceed. So now, it's 1.x - The Doomsday Contest 1.1 Death in Light Astoria (20-29) - Final 1.2 Drowning In the Vigilant Isles (25-30) - Final 1.3 Destruction in the Shadow Shard (25-33) - Final 2.x - The Spirit Realm Invasion 2.1 Shunting in Croatoa (30-39 ) Final 2.2 Banished in The Spirit Realm (34-39) Final 2.3 Incursion in Oranbega (35-41) Final 3.x - Mu Upheaval (or Mupheaval 🙂 ) 3.1 Summonings in Nerva Archipelago (40-44) Final 3.2 Ninjas in The Wind - (45-52) Final 3.3 Gods in The Planes - (45-52) Final Much simpler...

Same story here in Glints as with Glows - renumbered it to be easier for the player to consume. Let Go My Ego Beware The Ids That March Super Ego Maniac Get your dose of Penelope Mayhem, Mr. G, and more Praetorian stuff in something much shorter than Glitters...