Clave_Dark_5

The AE is one of the coolest parts of this game imho and shouldn't just get shoved aside so callously!

Let me tell you about the AE some: some players enjoy making highly-detailed story arcs and they are equal to or better than dev-created content, plus are loads of fun to play. Some players like to farm them for the rewards/power-leveling and use or make largely story-less arcs. Avoid the latter, look for the former if you want to get your feet wet in that system too. Just like any tool, it can be used well or abused.

That said, for a totally new player like yourself, sticking to the usual material and not AE for low levels might be better if you're feeling a little overwhelmed already; maybe something like 20% AE, 80% regular content if/when you feel comfy-ish with the game. If you do want to play AE at lower levels, be sure the arcs you choose have been set for your level as the custom-made foes in higher level arcs can be pretty tough.

And that said too, the AE is currently experiencing a bug problem that has messed up a number of arcs, leaving some damaged or unplayable, dang it. If you play one and some obvious bugs pop up, please don't downgrade your rating for the arc based on something the author has no control over.

Should you decide to dip your toes in these exciting waters, this thread lists a number of well-received, good arcs by level range, origin-type (if that matters to you), etc.: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=222095

Welcome to the game and have fun!

Yeah, I think this is going to be a big part of the story later,meaning the rest of the season, not just the second half. I have my theories, but I'm not going to say anything right now.

Overall I liked this episode. It didn't set me on fire as much as it might have, but the whole vibe about finding two different factions, trying to keep them from killing off each other, the usual running around, etc. felt rather 'old time Doctor Who' to me, which I loved. The surprise about the leader being a ganger felt like a moment from The Thing and was played pretty well I think. And that snaky-head version of the girl... did it remind anyone else of Prisoner Zero? Maybe that was an intentional nod, or maybe a hint of something else to come later (not part of my above theories however).

Edit: Oh yeah, and another appearance by the mystery eye-patch lady! I like the fact they knew she didn't even need to say anything, just show her face to up the creep factor.

Name-calling does little to advance your argument or image.

What I get are over the top doom-n-gloom predictions which I do get but disagree with. We're not devs so we don't know what their white board has on it... except, well, they have given us some news, mentioned above in this thread.

If I stub my toe I can say it hurts or I can say it's going to fall off and I'll never walk again; a stubbed toe does not equal abuse (very loaded term, denoting express intent to harm), dying, etc.

Fair point - never played it based on the negative word of mouth, so I withdraw that example. I still maintain the point however: if the devs were morons, slackers or idiots, the entire game would be terrible, not just one corner of it - their poor decision-making, lack of response/respect to players would be rife in every realm of the play space.

Ok - apologies to all I may have offended then. But that section I've bolded there... is the AE really dying, being abused, ignored, etc.? I'm hearing such words and accusations being tossed around a lot and that's what I find unproductive.

A name filter for the AE (and the game in general) is pretty much a sound business move because one simply cannot not argue with copyright/trademark law, unless you enjoy expending a LOT of money on legal battles. Your legal advice team is like your cyber security team, paid to be paranoid for you and to point out potential legal pit-falls; if insufficiently paranoid, or you don't listen to them, you end up in a situation like Sony, up a creek without a paddle. Even the simplest thrown-out-of-court-on-the-first-day case costs you a mint. More mint to lawyers=less mint for your pocket.

I don't see any lack of empathy, my experience with reporting bugs in my arcs has been pretty good and the devs have already responded to this thread twice and addressed this topic on their livetream (apparently, didn't see it myself). And, sadly, I don't see the MA community as being 'the player base at large'.

I didn't find those posts to be vague or terse but informative and to the point; one's opinion is formed by one's mindset - if you think the sky is falling, those grey clouds look pretty ominous. If you don't think the sky is falling, then they're really nothing to worry about as they will roll by. Saying their posts are 'buried' is making it sound as if the devs actively went out of their way to hide them. We have no reason to think that this problem won't be fixed as soon as they can determine what's causing it, bug-fixing cannot by its nature follow an ETA. If they said 'hold tight' and then work and work and work to fix the bug and it takes a month, everyone here would be... well, somehow angrier than they already are (it's already at eleven, far as I can tell, but I'm sure we could manage to kick it up a notch).

I feel the problem with this thread is that some people are making baseless claims of persecution with hyperbole, myself. I'm not saying there is NO cause for concern (but not 'alarm' though), but this thread is really over the top and "[doesn't] tend to promote an environment of calm and [isn't] productive." It all seems to be mostly boiling down to second-guessing the devs on their jobs, characterizing them as:

1) wacky-Don-Martin-face-making morons who're just randomly pushing buttons to hear their computer go BWEEP BOOP and accidentally breaking things.

2) slackers who're lounging around their desks shooting nerfball hoops while ignoring the big red button on their desk labeled "fix the MA"

3) mustache-twirling evil-doers who persecute the player-base while kicking puppies (who knew Weston Phipps was autobiographical?!)

The devs are just normal people you know? Capable of some good, some bad decisions. The real thing kicker here though is I think in the long run they make more good than bad choices - if it was the other way round, then the entire game would be terrible, like our F2P cousin, not just some single corner of it. This game rocks and will continue to.

If that's not a straight line, I don't know what is. Pardon me for hoping that angry players might try and keep a cool head; reading and understanding what's already been said in this thread (by the devs and others) would go a long way towards helping with that.

Bugs can be like that. They've told us this is a bug and they are working on it. Breathe.

I swear, I'm thinking I may have to put together a guide to this bug...

No no no, keep going, I like it.

Can't really comment to this as I don't know the game lore too well and it seems I rarely play at levels high enough to face these guys and get to know (and hate) them.

I'd say avoid the 'generics' from the tip missions as the villain ones give us enough chances to face-plant them as it is (looking at you, Overdrive).

Grrr...

My arc DayJob Hell (see sig) deals with villainy as well - get the knack for scheming, sell your friends down the river and prove you're a bigger villain than your annoying 'boss', a bone tossed to the "I hate being a lackey" crowd. I think it's still working but I haven't played through it yet to be sure; at any rate it's not flagged as invalid.

Fredrik's arc in his sig is very spot-on.

I've been undercutting you by listing mine for 5. HA!

The need to make some more money off something that has 'name recognition' with the general public.

They're usually taking a good guess at what will or won't sell, or what they can or can't sell. Sometimes they do a bad job of it, sure, and for all the wrong reasons ("Let's option this new teen-age vampire trilogy, everyone loves vampires!"). As pointed out though, "selling" the book is something they can put they're whole company behind, whereas I would only have internet forums to go to and push (see my sig, lay my arcs!! for example).

Why do self-published books get laughed at? Well, they all don't but let me offer you an example: I read the New York Review of Books regularly, and self-pub companies like Exlibris place full-color, full-page ads in there (which is no doubt great for NYRB). When I bother to look over those ads, I see tons of frankly laughable books, laughable in many ways. Sure, one of those might be worth something, but the surrounding dross drowns its weak call for attention.

And yeah, having an editor is a necessity; I can say that just from having published some AE arcs and having spent time in art class critiques.

Same for my, except maybe the smiley isn't needed in my case.

Thanks for the list SteelClaw! The bib one made me laugh. In this case a smiley is needed, so

*cough*
Anyone remember this from waaay back? Last Friday? Anyone at all? Or is the sky falling too loudly?

I thought of that as a fun nod to the past of the show, "we built a corridor set, now run down it like sixteen times while we film you from different angles, ok?"

Very, very fun ep. Here's hoping they can rope NG into writing another one, or maybe one each season even (not likely I know, but!).

I believe I did say about as much, yes. "Everybody right now has Incarnate stuff on their plate, which doesn't leave room for much else."

Also worth noting for Dr. A and other arc creators: a common problem that seems to be popping up (at least for me) is having foes from a set group such as "My Awesome Critters" show up bearing the label "All Custom Creations", or whatever exactly that undefined file is where every critter you've ever built lives. I've had reports of this happening to two of my arcs, even though they play fine otherwise and don't show an "invalid" marking.

So bookmarked!

I have the tendency to generate too many names and characters, more than anyone could ever possibly play (or me at least). Sometimes they end up in one of my AE arcs, but usually they just sit collecting dust in a notebook. I've often thought maybe I should just weed through and let some of them go and post them all in a "first come, first serve" list...