Alari_Azure

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First of all, if anyone starting out in MA actually took the 'tour' from the contact provided (and actually read all of the info), one of the first NPCs on the tour explains that missions that use exploits or use copyrighted/offensive materials, may be subject to disciplinary action. It was not a big secret that farming missions that were set up for that purpose could be banned and repeat offenders could have their accounts banned. Saying that this was something that was changed by the devs after the fact is untrue.

The 'tour' was set up to explain how to use the system and to let players know that there would be consequences for trying to take unfair advantage of the system. I don't understand how so many people can say 'they never said we couldn't do it'.

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Farming is not an exploit or they would have banned KTF farms of the past; Heck i still farm Posi solo and that is not banned yet here we go I farm it. Speed ITF farms been on a few of those. Family farms ?

Guess what people are still farming MA

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I never said that farming for decent xp alone was the problem. Farming that uses exploits of the system, by artificially inflating xp, etc., is. If someone finds a way to do that, then cries foul, they have no reason to complain about getting smacked with the banstick. I don't buy the 'I'm sweet & innocent' argument that they didn't know it was against the rules. If you play a game without reading the rules, then you have no reason to complain when the rules are enforced by the powers that be, IMO.

One more thing to address the response of 'I'm gonna take all my marbles and go find someone else to play with that will let me cheat as much as I want'. Any MMO out there has rules about cheating the system. If you don't want to play by the establishment's rules, then maybe you should make your own MMO where you can cheat to your heart's delight. Just, don't get mad if some guy comes along and finds a way to beat you at your own cheating game.

First of all, if anyone starting out in MA actually took the 'tour' from the contact provided (and actually read all of the info), one of the first NPCs on the tour explains that missions that use exploits or use copyrighted/offensive materials, may be subject to disciplinary action. It was not a big secret that farming missions that were set up for that purpose could be banned and repeat offenders could have their accounts banned. Saying that this was something that was changed by the devs after the fact is untrue.

The 'tour' was set up to explain how to use the system and to let players know that there would be consequences for trying to take unfair advantage of the system. I don't understand how so many people can say 'they never said we couldn't do it'.

Possibly. But, if the clue gives away info too early (before you find the rest of the items) it could be a story buster. It all depends on when you want the clue to be revealed in the story.

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You can also set all of the nav text as a certain color to make it easier to catch the eye. When I used this, I made the actual nav text for plural set as yellow, but I didn't include the number '1' in the colored text for 'singular'. That way, the number stands out the same as it does when the numbers are added by the system.

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Yeah, making them one thing on the nav bar is easy, as there's a system that actually looks for that. Unifying their clues such that all items will give the same clue and it will be given only ONCE, that's tough

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Hmmm... yeah, that's not going to be easy, yet. I just gave each one it's own clue that described each separate component, in this instance. In I15, I think someone said they will be possible to link together in a chain. That would be ideal for this situation.

Depending on your build, I think all of the missions in my sigline should be solo friendly for you. I will warn you that the custom group has a few axers in the mix that can be a little tough, but they are all set on standard difficulty. There are no EB/AVs in any of the missions. One of the missions listed, 'Deal with the Devil's Pawn', is a CoT single mission that I might be replacing soon, with an updated version. Since a standard CoT boss set on random (to accommodate a wider level range) wouldn't work for the story, I have created one for it. Again, it's also set at standard difficulty.

I hope you will enjoy them. They are all story focused with bios for all of the customs. Please, send feedback via PM or post it in the thread linked in my sig.

The collection items can be fairly simple (I recently found this possibility, sort of by accident). If you have 4 separate items that you want to be treated as one nav text, you name each item in the 'collectible' description by it's individual name, so when you ID it, it shows that name. Then, in the nav text you give the group of items a name that covers the whole group.

Example:

You have 4 different items: apple, orange, banana, lemon
Each are identified in their collectible name as such.

Make up a name for the whole bunch, in this case, maybe 'Fruit'.

Nav text plural: Fruit to find
Nav text singular: 1 Fruit left to find

Use the same identical nav text for all of the separate items.

You can also set all of the nav text as a certain color to make it easier to catch the eye. When I used this, I made the actual nav text for plural set as yellow, but I didn't include the number '1' in the colored text for 'singular'. That way, the number stands out the same as it does when the numbers are added by the system.

Voila! All in one nav text.

When I first saw all of the threads for people's arcs, I decided to make just one thread for all. I just figured it would be easier for me to keep everything together. I also thought spamming one wasn't quite as bad as spamming 3. Since I was a n00b and hadn't really posted a lot, here on the boards, I didn't want people to get irritated by me bumping more than one. I didn't want to be the Billy Mays of the CoX forum.

Besides, if they're all in one thread, you get more variety to offer people. I didn't really expect a lot of activity for any of my arcs, which is actually the way it's turned out to be, so far. So, this way it's all in one very small package.

I always like to read bios for custom characters. Even standards, if they are renamed bosses, etc.. It's a really good way to add a bit more background to a story. Personally, I have written bios for all of my customs. Some of them that I only use as 'occasional' characters have their own unique bios, too. I can't wait for I15 so contacts can show their bio info, too. I think that will be a great help in explaining how they happen to fit in as a unique 'contact' for missions.

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A note on the CoT crystals, all the maps have a random chance of having them. I've chosen maps for testing, gone in and found no crystals, restarted the mission for another run and the damn thing was filled with crystals.

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Yeah, I guess when I first decided on the CoT maps (mostly for the ambiance of setting it within their domain), I didn't realize there were some crystals that dealt damage when they were switched on by the system. If a glowie happens to spawn near a crystal, it will also give you a, 'you were interrupted', message every time the effects of the crystal hits you. That can also be very annoying to try to avoid happening.

Looks like some kind of hijacker/trojan is redirecting you. I recommend installing Spybot Search & Destroy, Spyware Blaster and AVG Antivirus (even the free version is fine), updating & running them ASAP.

I had the same problem sometime last week. What was really strange was that I tried to use a name that I had already used for that toon, previously, and it still said it wasn't 'allowed' or something to that effect. I tried about 8 different names, each time getting the same message. I decided to quit the char creation and start over to remake it. After restarting the creator, I had no problem selecting a name that would be allowed. Not sure what the problem was, but it really was annoying.

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Pretty sure it's aimed at EVERYONE and is pretty sound advice.

With the way GMs/CS have been going about, I WOULD NOT want to give them a reason to think that you are trying to fool around with them.

I would not mind losing an arc or even a slot.

Logically I think most would NOT want to lose their ability to use the MA at all, or even their ACCOUNT.

Just saying.

tl;dr: Don't F&*K with the CS/GMs.

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QFT&E

Contrary to popular opinion, they can probably see a lot more historic info related to people's accounts than most people may realize. If they think you are trying to do an end-run around them, they will probably not hesitate to mightily smack you over the head with the banstick. In that case, you would have no one to blame but yourself and, if you went looking for sympathy, you'd probably be told where to find it in the dictionary, between 2 words that I probably can't post here.

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Here's the thing: So much has changed in CoX since it was released that it's nearly impossible for them to have put out a complete documentation guide that encompasses it all. If you look at other games, you will find that as the game goes on for 2, 3, 5 years, rules change. Sadly the standard remains that it is up to the player to stay abreast of the rules.

That said, I got a big "hey, you all need to know this" when I logged in last week. Something about veteran awards. They could have very easily created a similar popup to say "hey, you all need to go to the forum and look at the rules changes to AE missions".

As for sussing out the Mission specifics, welcome MMO's. For many the discovering of the rules is part of the fun....

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Actually there is a an Architect contact that gives info in game, so the basic rules are there.

But I agree a popup should have been placed in game, like you said, relating to CHANGES to the rules.

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Something as important as a rule change that can result in a banned mission or, even worse, a banned player, should definitely have a red lettered warning popup in game. Anyone that has a mission that has been flagged with a complaint of any kind should also get a flagged popup advising them of the complaint. Since I rarely check my regular e-mail, sending a message that way wouldn't necessarily be seen in time to respond. If it was an in-game e-mail, I would probably check it. I don't think I've ever gotten more than 3 legitimate e-mails in game, though. The rest have all been spammail that I can't imagine how they even come up with player names to send spam to. Those are all automatic 'ignores' as soon as I open them.

I've had some pretty good feedback about my published custom group, the Demon Spawn. I wish I knew how to make the character views that I've seen other people post on the forum so I could show them here. Each character has a unique description related to their 'specialty' and background. I also have a variety of minor characters/mini-bosses that I've added with separate 'personalities' to make them stand out from the rank and file (thanks to Pro Payne for that suggestion). I wouldn't mind having someone else use them in their arcs, but I agree that I would like to know how they will be used in that arc before giving my permission.

I appreciate all of the great responses. My reason for not wanting to republish is also because I don't have a lot of people in game to play my arcs. Most of my SGs (2 out of 3) only have one or 2 semi-active players besides me. Since I have always had mapserver issues, especially in team missions, I usually play solo (it keeps my BP/frustration level in check and doesn't tick off all my teammates). Unfortunately, that means that I don't have a lot of friends in game that I can have replay/rate my arcs. My missions haven't had a lot of plays and most of them have been from people choosing them at random. It's taken a long time just to get those few people to try them. The number of plays has been increasing, slowly, as I have been posting here on the boards, but I have yet to break 10 plays on any of them.

(Note: I have already accidentally unpublished one of my arcs after an edit, and wiped out the 4 or 5 ratings of 4-5* it already had. I hated having to start it from scratch.)

I might have to do it as someone suggested, in increments, and make a note in the description that it's 'in process of being edited'. I also wish there was an easy way to copy all of the content from the remake and put it in notepad for easier transfer of the text, and, so I'm sure not to forget anything important. I'm pretty sure I can't have both missions open at the same time, so all the copy/pasting will have to be in 2 steps. First to transfer the remake to notepad, then to transfer all of it into the published arc. Maybe I am better off unpublishing/replacing, because this will take a very long time to do. It's only one mission, but the amount of new info is huge compared to the original.

That was one of the things that used to bug me about CoX. The only way I ever found out about changes or certain errors was by watching the chat channels and seeing people discussing them in game. I rarely ever visited the forums until recently, and then, only because so many people were talking about the best way to get your arc played by a lot of people was to post it on the boards. Now, I find that a lot of time that I would normally spend in game, is spent here on the boards trying to cull info about the MA, etc.. I've never had to do that in the other RPGs I've played.

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Cimeroran caves don't have anything particularly annoying for objects and NPCs to get caught on, or hidden in, so they're probably safe for setting to random.

I couldn't use a random CoT map specifically due to the portals. Wish we could select a series of maps, and mark them for our own random selection.

Cave maps I also couldn't set to random, simply because even the small cave maps could use the "five-floor" end room, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

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I have one CoT mission that I originally had set as a random CoT map. Since I was unfamiliar with maps that contained the annoying crystals, I was confused when someone mentioned them (most of my experience with CoT has been on low levels). The other day, when I was working on a rewrite, I finally got to see them first hand. I also found out what destructible portals were. (I had never seen them before, either.) After spending an afternoon trying to find a suitable CoT map to use, I decided to make it an office map and scrap the whole idea of using a CoT map. The spawn points sucked in most of them, anyway. With my story involving certain citizens of Paragon City, I figured having them set in an office would not conflict with the storyline.

I also found out that I couldn't set the boss as 'random', either, because my story was written for the boss to be a mage. Somehow, having a behemoth spawning as the boss, didn't quite fit the bill so I created a custom for that.

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I guess I'll have to shamefully bump my arc thread more often, to keep it from going to thread 'purgatory'.

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I was going to do just that - mainly to draw attention to the fact I've been updating them based on feedback - and found the original thread for my first arc was already gone. I just don't have the time to live my life, play CoH and keep up with these boards as much as I would like to. I'd feel cheesy starting a whole new thread for the same ol' arc, but... I've seen worse in this section.

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Bummer!

I think I'd remake it, just to spite the 'forum gawds'!


But, maybe that's just me.

I'd appreciate some feedback/opinions on whether I should unpublish my original version of 'Deal with the Devil's Pawn' and replace it with the 'new and improved' (hopefully) more action-packed version. The published one is a CoT, short/single mission that doesn't have a lot of content (one collectible/fight boss). The new version is still only a single mission, but with a lot more background story, clues, collectibles and an added plot twist, including the addition of another minor character (both, the new character and the boss, I created as customs, so the story won't be altered by a 'random' CoT 'standard' that might not fit the character I needed for it).

So, my dilemma is whether it's worth it to attempt to copy/paste all of the new info into the live arc in an attempt to retain it's 4* rating (only 6 ratings so far). I recently tried to make the massive changes to the live arc 'on the fly', making it up as I went along. After spending 4-5 hours on the rewrite (which was still not finished), I had a mapserver disconnect that almost made me want to delete every mission I had ever written/published, unpublish all my live arcs, and never go back to the MA again. (Can you tell that I was a tad annoyed?)

But, I remade the mission as a local file by doing a 'save as' from the published version and going from there. Some of the text I had written before the crash, I had saved in notepad (so I could tweak it there easier than dealing with the text snafus that plague MA), but most of it I had to write all over again. I hate the thought of having to spend a massive amount of time trying to copy/paste and add all of the extra objectives into the published arc, again. If I got another DC in the middle of it, I would probably want to throw my PC into the pond in the back yard, through the closed sliding glass door.

Should I opt to save my sanity and just replace it from local, or do I dare to tempt fate?

I'm bumping this thread for 2 reasons.

1) I don't want to have this thread deleted in a forum chop (i.e. forever banished to 'forum purgatory')

2) To shamefully plug the arcs, again.

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b) Put them in their own separate "boss group".

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Note that with Issue 15, this will no longer be necessary, since you'll have the option of making sure your bosses don't spawn unless you actually place them.

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That will be a great help for me. As it is now, I have my main boss in a group by himself (Leader of the Demon Spawn). My other minor bosses are in a group of their own, too (Demon Spawn Boss). But I can see that that could be a problem when people play my missions on higher difficulty settings, since there are several 'minor' bosses in that group. I can't wait for an option that will let me set the boss to only spawn once per mission. I couldn't figure out how to name a separate group for each boss the way it works now.

I guess I'll have to shamefully bump my arc thread more often, to keep it from going to thread 'purgatory'.

Arc Name: Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons
Slash DeMento and his gang, the Demon Spawn, have stolen some Weapons and a Bomb from the Paragon City Armory. Slash and most of his gang are former Outcasts that left after Slash gave Frostfire a nasty beating. You need to defeat him, destroy the Bomb and confiscate those stolen Weapons. They've moved in and plan on targeting something in Atlas Park.
Arc ID: 100045
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Alari Azure
Difficulty Level: 1-54
Synopsis: Single mission that is a hint at my custom enemy group featured in the 4 part arc in the list. (Meet the Demon Spawn)
Large Map/Custom Enemy Group/Ambush/Boss/Collection/Destructable Object/Patrol. (No EB/AVs)
~~~

--This one's had a major overhaul in the past couple of weeks. Much more content was added, the custom group has been tweaked to where now, it's a fairly well balanced group (at least I think it is). I'm pretty sure it's at the point where it's basically a 'finished' story. It's had less than 10 views, according to the MA (less than 10 ratings, anyway). It has maintained a 4* rating since it slipped down from it's initial 5* in the first week it was up. The comments that I have gotten have all been positive, with a few suggestions for improvement that I agreed were well worth doing. It's a story driven arc that I had a lot of fun creating. I also enjoy playing it. I really made it for other people to enjoy as much as I do. I would appreciate it if you would tell me what you think.

With the liberal use of patrols, ambushes and battles, placed in front, middle and back, an arc can be filled with lots of random action that can be a good challenge for solo or team play. They also add more dialogue to the stories if you want your action to also have a decent plot. You just have to do a bit of searching for arcs that list those elements in the story details description. There are lots of threads in the MA Stories and Lore section of the forum where you will find lists of recommended arcs, some of those can be a good challenge. You can also look for EB/AV tags if you like facing tough foes.