Thanks, I’ll give the Arch. missions another look. After insta-dying three times in a row from missions that sounded promising and were highly rated, I just wrote the whole thing off.
I’ll be sure to check Lok’s out. At least I know they’ll be better than the ones described as “xp mision go get ur xp” 
I wouldn’t go so far as to skip all mission with Custom groups. There are custom groups in both of mine, all 3 when I get the 3rd arc finished, but they are designed to be around the same level as the regular mobs. It isn’t the custom mobs, it is what the designer does with them.
True enough. The problem is the vast majority of people use them incorrectly, and if you’re just poking through the list looking for a random one to play, it’s easier to just skip ones with Custom Groups. I’ve been frustrated constantly due to that. A group of even-level minions should not be able to completely destroy me and my bots as effortlessly as they did in one particular mission.
Speaking of, are Arch. Missions universal or server dependent? I get the impression that it’s the former but don’t want to waste my time looking for Lok’s stuff if it ain’t there (I’m on Victory these days).
They are universal, all servers, red and blue sides. Mine are set as Heroic, but that is just a suggestion, someone tested them on low level villains and didn’t have a problem. Another place to find out about good arcs would be here in the MA section of the COH forum. There are multiple threads of arc reviews, you just need to find one that rates thing high that you enjoy playing. You can also check out COH Mission Review and Mission Search for reviews of arcs.
I don’t think it will take nearly that long; announcing in May and starting open beta in August is the same schedule that Villains had and this will certainly be smaller than that.
Almost the same schedule, rather. The first mention of CoV I can find in the official news was April.
I don’t see why you think it will be smaller than CoV. They are adding another universe, with all of the zones that already exist in the game, with new graphics for them. Or at least new graphics for the Paragon zones, we haven’t seen the Rogue Isles on Praetorian Earth yet. But I bet they are different there also. Not only do those zones need populated, they are adding in an entirely new system for switching sides, which I bet will be full of bugs to start with. If anything I think it will be larger than Villains.
And they have announced that next Monday or Tuesday, they are wiping out the Test 2 server and copying over Freedom to it, in preparation for the open Beta for I15. If they start open on Wednesday, with 2 weeks of testing, then the first week of June looks like the probable live date. Assuming nothing game breaking shows up. That is always possible.
Exactly. The zones already exist, they just need to give them new skins. Praetorian mobs also exist, in Shadow Shard. I dobut they’ll give us any new ATs other than maybe adding an Epic or two. It’s not like they need to create a bunch of new zones from scratch, the mobs to populate them, and five new ATs to fight them.
I think you may be underestimating how much work it will take to reskin a couple of dozen zones, assuming they don’t do the PvP zones. I am sure they want to get it out by the time CO hits, but they are already behind on I15, which will be pushing back I16, which they need for the new expansion. The only way they can make up that time is by shorting testing, and I doubt they will do that. A buggy launch would be much worse than a late launch.
I like the dev team, but honestly they’ve been rushing through stuff lately. Issue 14 was a buggy-as-hell launch, especially considering it came with a redesigned box for store shelves, availability on Steam, and Reactivation Week. A friend of mine who’s deeper into the testing stuff than I am is 100% behind the devs, and even she was bitching mightily about how the Architect wasn’t ready to go live when it did.
It’s possible all that rushing was to accommodate Going Rogue, and the expansion will be done properly, but it’s also just as likely that they’re concerned about Champions and are trying to push through stuff without doing as much QC as they should.
Is it possible to train between Architect missions in an arc? I know you can’t reach other non-Arch contacts but don’t know if that extends to trainers. I started Lok’s Skulls missions last night and the character I’m using for them hit lvl 10 between missions 2 & 3.
I need my new power before I can travel through time! 
Yes, just run to the trainer and level up. And a warning, the map in the future is outdoor/indoor, so look for a door.
Going Rogue Closed Beta Access will be granted using a three-tier system: [ul]Tier One: City of Heroes Veterans with 60+ months of paid time.
[li]Tier Two: Loyalty Program players (those who maintain an active account for the time period beginning August 15, 2009 and ending November 15, 2009)[/li]Tier Three: Players who Pre-Order Going Rogue (Preorder details to be announced at a later date)[/ul]
Well, that is easy to do when your account is paid a year at a time and the next renewal is in 2010. 
Psst. Issue 16 is Going Rouge. Going Rogue is the expansion.
It seems to be a ‘Well, you’ll burn through Champions in three months. We’ll wait. Don’t cancel your account, okay?’ kind of thing.
I’m Tier One. Woo-hoo!
ITYM “Issue 16 is Power Spectrum. Going Rogue is the expansion.”
Did I just hear a “whoosh”?
Was it?
I thought E-Sabbath’s brain was just working faster than his fingers.
E was ragging on my typo.