Bright_Spirit

I'm curious. I know I resent being forced to use this launcher; I don't like that it runs all the time in the background, I've had to reboot a lot, and my brother so far hasn't been able to get the thing to work at all, and he's a Windows engineer! (ok, ok, so he's not been working on it for long). I am hearing a lot of feedback that this is giving a lot of people problems. So, can we show the devs how many are having problems? I for one have been here since just after game debut, and am wondering if maybe the game's not worth the bother at this point. And I LOVE this game. But I'm not a computer person, and if it's going to cause all kinds of problems with my system, I just won't be able to keep the game.

HATE the new launcher. HATE HATE HATE it.

I hate the dull, ugly colors. So far, it's been a royal pain. I have multiple user accounts on my computer, but only one with admin permissions. Stupid launcher will tell me that it can't update from a non admin account, go and do it anyway, and then proceed to fix my files EVERY TIME I WANT TO PLAY.

I haven't tweaked according to your directions yet, and I will, but just had to vent. WHY couldn't they leave well enough alone, WHY force us into this??!! They don't KNOW how to make a user friendly ANYTHING, much less something that is supposed to run in the background ALL THE TIME.


ARGH.

Yes! I have had that same bug! Annoying, isn't it?

Just be careful with this; unless they fixed it, I've had things in my mission change when I dragged it to another slot. For example, mission 2 has x mobs in a cave, and mission 3 has y mobs in a boat. I drag 3 to the 2 slot, and now I have y mobs in a cave, instead of x. Or I have x mobs in a boat. I stopped dragging and switching slots for this reason; it could be made a LOT easier to do. I think you should be able to select a mission to test play, instead of having to go thru the whole thing or having to drag and drop. Hopefully, they will improve this feature.

The ratings system is totally meaningless. They've tied the ratings that you get to badges, which means the ratings no longer signify the opinion of the arc. I would like to see the ratings disconnected from the badges entirely. Sure, add categories (perhaps optional, so those that don't want to take the time don't have to) to fine tune the ratings, so that we know what they actually mean; but the single most important step to take here is to take away the incentive and possibility of griefing and the padding of ratings, which is what is making the ratings meaningless.

To satisfy the badge hunters, I propose that badges instead be given for finding arcs of quality and recommending them for Dev's Choice. Not all recommended arcs could be Dev's Choice, of course, but if the dev reviewer agrees that it's a 4 or 5 star arc, the person recommending it would get stars, or points, towards a badge. The badge qualifications would have to be reworked, of course, for the ones you get for getting good ratings, but in the interest of fixing the entire system, I really think they should be. And, for the record, I AM a badge collector, and I've collected several of these badges, and would happily give them up if the rating system could work better.

The main benefit of changing the badges earned from getting stars for your arcs to earning stars for finding other people's arcs of quality, is the type of activity each of those badges encourages. We've already seen that tying badges to the stars you personally earn leads to a competitive atmosphere, where arcs that earn high ratings are griefed, and arcs languish, unplayed and unrated, because there is limited incentive to play someone else's arc when you're trying to get people to play yours. On the other hand, giving people an incentive to sort thru the arcs that are out there means that there is no way or incentive to grief, and more new stories will be discovered and appreciated, and isn't that what the idea of the Mission Architect was to begin with? Sharing stories and new content?

For a more detailed look at my proposal, please see the topic I started; it's just a page past this one, entitled "suggestion for changing the ratings/badges in MA". Of course, this is just the spark of the idea, I'm sure it could be improved upon. I really hope the devs will realize that the ratings system needs to be totally revamped.

The current method of getting star ratings on your arc, with badges awarded based on the stars "earned", has several problems/disadvantages to it. This system focuses players on their own arcs, and how to best get others to give them stars. Because people often rate arcs based on their relationship to that person instead of the content of the actual story, the rating system as it stands is nearly meaningless.

I propose that we make stars just opinions, unconnected with badges, for starters. This removes the incentive for friends to rate it highly, and prevents a griefer from being able to do actual damage to another player. The stars go back to being just what they were meant to be: an honest reflection of opinion.

Instead of getting badges based on stars you managed to get for your own arcs, how about we shift the focus by making badges for recommending other people's arcs? This would entirely shift the focus and eliminate the ability to grief. Suddenly, there would be more of a reason to go through and play other people's stories!

Here is how I'd picture this working:

Players would recommend arcs for Dev consideration. You couldn't recommend an arc you wrote yourself. The devs would have to figure out the parameters, but I'd think that players would be limited to one or two recommendations a month, perhaps? And the Devs would only look at the "x" number of missions, perhaps the 100 most recommended for that month? I have no idea how many missions they could look at, nor how many people they have examining missions, they'd have to come up with the figures they could handle. The point being, not every mission that was recommended would have to be looked at, because I could see that overwhelming their staff. The person who recommended the arc would receive points (or stars) based on the quality of the arc they recommended. If the arc they recommended becomes Dev's Choice, they get a special badge, like, "Connoisseur". Since players are limited in how many recommendations they make, and since that would be the only avenue in which to earn stars, they'd need to be careful in which arcs they'd recommend, so to maximize their chances of earning stars.

Additional thought, here: perhaps we need an element of accountability/player credibility. With that thought in mind, players could gain or lose points in recommending an arc. This would make players think twice before putting in a story for a friend, unless they felt the friend deserved it, and it would hopefully keep the quality of recommendations at a high level.

Players would earn badges for being recommended, and for being selected for Dev review. Earning badges for being recommended has the potential to perpetuate the "I'll get my friend to do it" pathway we see so often, but if we limit the number of submissions and penalize poor quality submissions, there will be a smaller number of players willing to do this.


Again, these suggestions shift the focus from each person on their own arc, to each person looking for the good stories that are out there, saving the devs time in the process! We'd still earn badges, but hopefully, this system would reveal the very best that the MA has to offer, instead of the difficult to distinguish mess we have currently. To those who would say that we'll be able to distinguish things more easily after we get a better navigation system, I'd say yes, a different navigation interface will make finding certain types of missions easier, but that won't change the griefing or get people to focus on something besides their own arcs like changing the star rating/badge system will.

These are suggestions, not a polished system, I'm sure there's room for improvement, but do you like the direction of this idea? Any suggestions for improvement? Let's hear from you!

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As for revenge voting, nothing is stopping that currently, either. The outlook is nigh currently if you're hoping to stop people from vote griefing.

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Very sad but true. There needs to be a way to correct griefing voting, say, something like what slashdot uses, where people get a reliability rating and their vote is weighted accordingly. Or take away the power the votes currently have, and make them only for honest opinion, not something you need for badges.

Well, I agree, it would be very nice to be able to sift thru all the missions that are currently there. Perhaps segregating the farmers would help (certainly, getting them out of AP would help the tremendous lag issues!), but I believe there would still be mountains of missions. You are right, MP, when you theorize that removing xp would drive many farmers out, but others are correct when they note that this doesn't mean that the farms would die, they'd simply shift product farmed.

I like your idea in theory, that is, the theory that there are enough people that appreciate story-focused player generated content that the game would be able to have a venue where we really only focus on the stories and not the rewards. Trouble is, the more I think about it, the more I realize, it just won't work. People play for a variety of reasons, and it is hard to separate out the complex factors that go into the enjoyment of the game. And, if you do separate factors that are critical to the majority, you risk alienating your playerbase.

In other words, people like rewards. For you, the reward would be, people see and enjoy what you've created. That's a reward, as valid as the tickets or levels others crave. I hope that the devs recognize this, because you aren't alone in your complaint that you feel your arc is buried and your fear that it may never get noticed. I am not sure the game is able to support strict story-focused MA arcs, with limited or reduced rewards, because most players are playing for tangible rewards. Currently there is no system to get players that do want to focus on the story, together. The players exist, but I am very sure they are not the majority, and so I think that if the stories were available with reduced rewards, I think MA would become a minor footnote in the game, much like the arena is now. It would be an interesting experiment, but based on the playerbase as I have experienced it, both on the forums and ingame, I don't think it's practical, and you'd still be a frustrated author whose mission arc isn't being played!

I think that there has been some good feedback here, in that the MA is still being balanced. (Oh, if only they'd done more thinking and maybe some usability testing!! We'd have avoided all of this...) I share your frustration with the farms clogging the airwaves, server space, and MA listings, but I actually think that the thing to do is to learn to get along with the farmers. I don't think that the devs will ever do that! but I personally don't think the farmers will ever go; it's their personal playing style of choice (professionals excluded from this assessment). I would favor something that would shift the farms to a less populated zone, like Galaxy City, and sanction them (with limits), so that we don't have to sift thru all the missions that aren't trying to be anything other than a farm. I fail to see the harm in this, and seems like it'd keep people happy, both the farmers and the people who get annoyed with farms. I am happy to let the farmers farm if that is how they want to play; they are paying their monthly fee and helping the game stay afloat, so I can go play for the reasons I like to play. They're not likely to be interested in missions I write, and I'm not going to be interested in theirs, so segregating them would be cool. But it isn't likely to happen.

I'd also love a better navigational interface/system. I truly hope THAT is happening, because there are too many problems in the system we currently have, but I believe that is being addressed. *Insert another plea to devs to consider usability testing.*

Woohoo! What a great topic, glad I looked. Hats off to you if you manage to work your way thru all those epics!

My 5-mission arc:
Missing Persons, Missing Pieces ~ heroic
Arc ID 81451

Due to enemy group levels, the arc is a consistent 20-29 throughout. There are 2 EBs, one AV, depending on difficulty level; just a few custom critters (I was forced to create because the MA is missing that villain group at that level). Several people have soloed it, but I think a team would be better. No kill-alls; most of the missions can be completed fairly quickly if you're doing minimums.

Thank you so much!

Doesn't seem that anyone has mentioned this...I skipped some posts in the middle for time's sake, so I'm not sure. Seemed like pretty much similar complaints. And it looked like everyone thinks that there is no way to kick someone from a tf who is offline?

But there is.

/kick playername. A friend used it once, I know it works.

I prefer the new system over the "minimum tf size=spawn size" approach from before. No, it doesn't allow a soloist or significantly smaller part of the team to come back and do missions in the tf, whittling it down (which can be helpful on the longer tfs), but maybe it will mean that people will communicate more and set up a return time if they have to break. And, there's less concern that you'll miss out on the tf if they need you. Of course, it's also a concern when you have a ruthless tf leader who decides that he doesn't want to wait when people have a RL situation they need to attend to, and kicks them.

It sure would be nice if there was a way to prevent these situations. Unfortunately...you're not talking about a real game programming problem, here. The problem is with the people, and there's no coding that's going to be able to solve every unethical thing people can think up to do. When people are rude, selfish, impatient, greedy, undependable, etc., things like this will happen.

My son has also played this game since he was six. His older sisters play, also, but neither are as persistent as he has been. His oldest toon is about to hit fifty. When he first started, he'd tell people his age, but because he could read any and everything, and always had a high level vocabulary, AND was good at the game, no one believed him. I told him I'd rather he didn't tell people his age, anyway. Of course, I think people would have believed his age the day his young emp defender got "resurrect". He was so excited, and wanted to try out his new power right away. So he gets on broadcast and asks if anyone wants to die so he can resurrect them... His teacher didn't know what to make of all the stories about superheroes. In one story, he described how he side-kicked his sister to get her to help him in a mission. The teacher had written "That isn't nice." So...we had a little explaining to do.

On balance, his experiences have been very positive. I do have to watch out, because the filter can't filter out attitudes, or mean actions, but I have a wonderful group of friends that have, on occasion, grouped together solely to help him do a hard mission, or earn a badge (yes, he's a badger). And once, the filter made things a little harder...he'd made a character that was very colorful and had the word "rainbow" in his name. I didn't think too much about it, until someone approached his freshly minted toon and asked if he wanted to be in a sg...turned out, it was a very special sort of sg...the guy asked my son "You do know, it's a *** sg, right?" My son had no idea what the guy was talking about, and just went along..til I came over to see what was going on. I said...um...yeah, I know what word that was that was filtered, and no, you can't join his sg. *Cue a short explanation of "gay"* Also, I told him, please remake this toon without the "rainbow"

Thanks to the name change option, my son's main toon is no longer easily identifiable as a "kid" (hello, eight feet tall, garish colors, and a misspelled name? Oh yeah. Kid. ) He now looks like any other (albeit tall) male toons, sorta "Matrix"-y, even tho my son has never seen "The Matrix". It's been fun to watch the evolution from a kindergartener's concept to that of a fourth grader. It has also been enjoyable to team with him, and watch his creativity go to town on his character's background stories. We are big believers in background stories; every single one of our kids (not to mention, ourselves!) writes a story for every toon. Recently, my oldest daughter got a compliment from someone who said it was the best bio he'd ever read. She was very happy. She's also an excellent writer.

So, yeah, COH has been a wonderful family experience for us.

I can't find the tuft things in Icon when I go in, and I need them.

I also can't find this face, and I want it back.

mask1

mask2

And, are you the person to talk to to fix the autoreset you get when you try and make changes in Icon? I lose my unique settings for my alts, and sometimes the faces!! Please please fix that...
Jay is very sexy!!

This is a bad idea. Accuracy would be a much better thing to buff... what possible use are huge damage increases when they miss? Restating what others have said... it encourages recklessness, and I really could believe what some are saying, that you only want it to take longer to get to the higher levels. Between this power, the active encouragement of tactics guaranteed to result in face plants , and massive slashing of defense and aggro management abilities of tanks and controllers, there will be plenty of debt. Sure, run in, take damage so you can deal more, and let the tank grab the aggro. Of five targets. Don't worry about the rest of the villains, because, your part in this particular scenario is now over. At least the end came quickly...