Crystalblue

Since you ask... my main worries are these

1) Cluttering - With many farms it's hard to find story missions without a better built in tagging/filtering system. Farmers usually aren't bothered with this (they just need to find one farm and stick with it) but story-runners need to find new missions all the time. Cluttering is keeping people looking for stories away (and thus costing costumers for story writers)

2) Dev MA Nerfs - If Devs nerf what can be used in MA to hurt farms, it will likely hurt us too

3) Dev XP Nerfs - Our main competition is NC Soft made story content. If XP for MA is nerfed badly so farmers have to find officiel content to farm instead, then also storyrunners might go the same way away from MA.

People can farm all they like for all I care (as long as no exploit is involved anyway), personally the story-crowd just do not understand you (in CoH being 50 isn't everything, more like end of the line).

Also... we have no illusion that a Farm nerf will ever make you our costumers. But people hating 'fanfic' also cannot assume that just because they would never run the stuff that noone else would either given that the clutter issue is solved and no Dev-anti-farm-reaction drives MA into the ground.

I hope this reply is measured enough not to turn this thread into another flamefest. There is too much of that with some of the misguided trolling going on here anyway.

He's talking about

The Love Triangle 158108

I directed him here instead of posting on the flame-infested Techincal AE Thread, but it seems the cut-n-paste lost the Arc Info (the farm reference was appropriate where this was posted first)

Anyway.. I sent my review to your personal messages (under "My Home"), got a lil' too long for a Tell, but since you made a thread I'll repost it here.

1: Intro - Color mission Title (NC Recommends Blue). "a ransom _note_". i -> I.
Pop-up: to -> too.

2: Intro: i -> I. Might add a comma after "GO NOW" (just looks a lil' clunky without),
names -> name is (or name's). Pop-up: "Sounds of an attractive woman"???? also "nearby"
on a big map. I like the kidnap emotes setup. I'm glad I took the boss first and could
mission complete out of the ambush. Extro: i -> I.

3:Intro: somethings not -> something's not (or something isn't). i -> I. sho -> she.
Using default "Accept". isnt -> isn't. (X-Files.. Nice touch!). A little strange box
for the Identity, but OK. Was thinking, who the heck is Margeret - but nice Info on her
to explain. Ambush is just fine - since Margeret is great (but not scene-stealing) help.
Extro: the strange -> these (maybe)

4: Sound of thrown money bags - THAT WORKS. A nice pop-up giving it all a sense or urgency.
Does he have and END sapping aura? I must tell you *everyone* will hate that! Having to turn
off defences to be able to attack is not funny. On Heroic I can't tell - is he EB downgraded
to boss? (Don't think anything above Boss is warranted). Patty's powers seem ideally chosen
(she's just there to mash stuff, energy attack is good for that). Dialogue: Missing a few more
(') in cant etc. Also "Hit like a Girl" is a lil' silly with two girls fighting
Nice to have Timed on this (since it's a heist) can't check fail text tho' (since I made it)

5: Hmm.. Intro to the plot-twist mission at the end seem a little off, maybe something like
"It turns out all these mystical creatures weren't working for the 5th column at all (it did
seem a little odd) in fact they were all working for this group of dead former warriors, and
now they have taken Margaret prisoner too ... etc." also still with the i -> I a few times
"Defeat them and send them back to their graves" is Great, "Kill them All" just before that
probably not (since they are dead already and killing is a little tabu for a hero work) -
"take them all down for good" maybe? margaret -> Margaret.

Okay... why are we in an Arachnos base? (state in the entry pop-up why they have chosen this
- maybe they are holed up in this abandoned Arachnos outpost), also First boss was right
at the door (that was kinda nasty), not sure I get the text on the Berets (scarred from not
working part), Resurrector seems a tad gaudy for a dead warriror (bright green does that),
also villain group name misspelled (should be "Baddies") - that will catch a lot of comments.
Like the Pale Green Horseman (maybe change from Horsemen->Horseman tho') has a wicked Alpha
Strike tho' (no problem for me) but people should know that with an Ax wielder and approach
accordingly, description: arthur -> Arthur. Dead Berets seem well dressed and power kitted.
Hehe.. shovel.. that never gets old. "Girble Garble" ?? Not sure I would stick with that.
Also this is Kill-all, but a nice small and easy to check map, so OK and the end of an arc
like this with many nice small maps underway (might still scare some but as the story is
written I think it's the way it has to be). The map does create a few congested battle-
zones but nothing a player shouldn't be able to handle by a little carefull forethought.

Maybe it's because we had a lot of bad stories in the press recently but the contact
comes off a little as a creepy stalker-ex. By Mission 2 he's more like desperate fool
tho' which was probably the intention. Mission 3, we are back to creepy stalker (at
least he doesn't lock her up). Mission 4 his role as a legit contact is finally
established, maybe a lil' late. Maybe add something to make him seem more concerned
and less needy in the first few introes (not sure what - let him wring his hands or
something, I usually add emotes into the text using yellow, emotes are a sneaky tool)

I like that the story is 1-54, but due to Map 2 I might add in the synopsis that "Travel
Power is recommended" (but with costum group I'd say we are at least talking
Dual Origins Enchancers-recommended). Finding good all-level groups is hard so sometimes
you get an odd mix - try to add a few excuses to the story for it,

Played on Heroic w. L17 Tank

One thing is stars, another recommendations - some arcs are also just for a narrower audience.

There will be some repeats on my list from earlier lists, but I pitched the folowing to own my guild so far:

Highly Recommended: 2622 (classic time-travel), 111022 (funny villain arc), 56540 (funny stuff), 169114 (a must for all females), 101681 (great villain arc), 192771 (funny villain arc)

Recommended: 195149 (task force), 137561 (much like 2622), 59925 (little feelgood mission), 1472 (contains harsh reality), 84420 (end boss might need a lil more pep)

All well worth the time spent

This is more of a Techincal Forum really.

Advertising threads for play would gather more success on the For Fun -> Mission Architect: Stories & Lore forum or on the Realm Forums dedicated threads for missions (don't crosspost to realms you're not playing on or you might draw some ire).

Advertising missions on this forum unless it is to get technical input to a specific problem in the mission will likely only draw flames since this is also the place that (some) storytellers and powerlevelers use to tell that they hate each other

Wanted to PM this but not sure I can (he's EU)

M1,Intro: Lets->Let's.

Named boss might mention own name in speech, else 'Barclay' with nothing else seems too left alone.

Nice to see some new caves

M2,Intro: got->gotten. M2,Extro: them->him

M3: Archivist - same comment about name as Barclay, also - ambush did I see *both* spider and longbow or was that a patrol that mingled?

M4, Intro: He hasn't really "beaten me" more like "beaten me to it" since there should be no mention of us actually clashing.

It's a good engaging dialog tho' since it actually hurt my feelings
a little that she thought I can't handle this Hogun-dude.. until I
thought "Hey wait a moment!".

[EB-name not listed to avoid spoilers] really has it bad for [Named Hero], still babbling about him when *I* beat him down.

Longbow ambush (spawned at kidnap) just waited near entrance,
intentional (ok, since I had a lot of patrols still)?

Chestpounding Wallace, a lil' over the top

Extro: Thoughout-> Throughout.

Good you don't force the choice upon people about Wallace, but only mention that "they made it and now go to test project"

M5, Intro: o -> off. Very good to wrote just defeat XXX leader, no need to foreshadow details of the bad news to come - keeps anxiety up.

Does [EB-name withheld] really talk like that - he's like ... a dorky version of Batman (I guess he is though!)

Extro: To wipe a tear -> To wipe off a tear (not "away" since there's another "away" coming later)

General: Nice concept, nice build-up through the missions.
Run as L40 Inv.Tank/Diff.1 - Main threat.. take down energy drainers first - then psionics. Beating up the featured EB's: Always fun solo - go go insp & Temp Powers.

5 Stars!

This was great fun and innovative (and the Hard Rockers really ROCK) so well worth my 5 star rating.

Only gripe is the end boss. He seemed a tad bland compared to how garish everyone else was (also making him hard to spot). I'd have expected nothing less than FULL GARY GLITTER.

For the Badge.. you could describe that it was "ripped off his shirt leaving behind a hole" (and assume it's a badge attached to the shift via a pin). Then it would be obvious that something was taken here and what it was (judging from the rest of his uniform)

[ QUOTE ]
Arc Name: [u]Holy Hydra![u]
Arc ID: #180128
Ideal for low level toons looking for a simple one mission arc to do with a team.


[/ QUOTE ]

This delivers on it's promise - no more but no less either. I'm not fan of kill all missions since it seems they aren't really meant to be completed, but after having calmed down (spending 30 minutes looking for the next-to-last mob on foot, and another 45 NOT finding the last mob made me kind of cranky since I'm a finisher) I upgraded my original overzealous score to *** (3) stars (good). It's not VG's fault mobs falls thru' the map.

After having shinied everything up with some color here's Arc 3+4 of the Keep Saga.

Arc Name: You're in Big Trouble Now
Arc ID:192610
Faction: Hero
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Crystalblue
Difficulty Level: Nasty (levels 40+)
Synopsis: It's time to pay the price for what you have done. This wil put you face to face with your old contact "The Keep"
Estimated Time to Play: Short

Arc Name: Free the Keep
Arc ID: 196090
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Adam the Mage
Difficulty Level: Medium (levels 41+)
Synopsis: The Keep is unjustly in Prison, and a mysterious Lady in Gray wants YOU to free him.
Estimated Time to Play: Long

And a silly little one-shot (limited time only)

Arc Name: He Cut Me
Arc ID: 218575
Faction: Villain
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Adam the Mage
Difficulty Level: Medium (levels 20+)
Synopsis: About the Harsh world behind the scenes of producing AE-Entertainment movies.
Estimated Time to Play: Short-Medium

Do the extra possibilities to change powers add to the filesize if you go with just minion-lt-boss/easy-hard-extreme etc. settings.

I've got a file sitting at 99.08 % and am a lil' worried.

[ QUOTE ]
As far as Vista Issues... WRONG WRONG WRONG..

[/ QUOTE ]

Only Vista issue I had was the "multiple processors, one high end graphics card lock up" bug, but there's a (coming in SP2 but available as) Hotfix for that.

Running ever so smooth since then.

Once per day (week?) pick 40 random 5 stars, 40 random 4 stars, 20 random 3 stars. Order them (randomly) from 1-100 and list them in the mission list below the DC, but above the rest, as "Pick of the Day 1-100".

HoF doesn't seem to work very well anyway.

I think it's a "Outdoor" map, meaning all the spawn point are equal. I guess we'll know for sure once I15 hits and the spawnpoints are tagged.

I had the same problem and in the end just used the Faultline map (as a 'cellar below the special detention wing of the Zig' - it has a monitoring room, and probably some vents prisoners could have gotten down through before you arrive to bust them the last way out, if for no other reason than to pick up their weapons - being still down here for those just recently detained for proper processing)

I was a setback...

#1472 Hearts on Fire

Seee now THAT'S what I'm looking for, an appropriate challenge for a lowbie, and funny too, and story-wise something must be done right when you feel the need to slap your contact.

Due to Rather mature themes (warned against, this ain't no kids story) it'll never get DC sadly.

or how about #56540 Save the Ice Cream from the 5th Column

Also brilliant work (this *is* a Kids story, very funny really)

But Developers should look for stuff like this too and not all the scrapper-centric stuff.

Tried once at future King, seeming aimed at Levels 10-11

First Mission is OK, but second uses that huge Steel Canyon outdoor map with 5 rescues (aimed at people who have no travel powers that's just a big FAIL in my book using that map like this).

Further more the announced Boss is an ELITE Boss, so.. and sadly it takes a lot of time to just let the mission fail due to time exceeded. Another one tried and scratched I guess. I'll look and see if the final goal (comm. central) might NOT include the Elite boss, but whatever you do, dont come here before you hit travel power at 14.

Object -> Wall -> Desk (No Computer)

There's a Phone

Tried Saul's on a Lv 11 Dominator (Heroic) - not exactly DpS challenged but squishy and reliant on having enough control.

Mission 2 is a problem here - I think it's set to "Ramp up" meaning there are weaker but larger spawns at the start, which is a problem for control type characters (Hint, Flat is better), especially when one spawn starts to grow into the next.

Also there seems to be an unprovoked ambush, 5 man strong white/yellow who is happily camping the door if you try to take a breather outside. That's just plain bad form!!

Also I had a 3 Man patrol add out of seemingly nowhere, who then proceeded to get stuck on geometry right next to the standard spawn I was fighting.

I recommend doing part I and then quit this one. First part is well worth the time spent.

Use unconscious/kneeling too (or xxxx/waiting for someone you 'apprehend' - gives a great "you got me but I'm annoyed about it" look)

Yup... 'rescue' missions need a 'Stay in rescued animation and don't zoom off at 300 MpH' checkbox.

Me - I just hope people hit Exit mission before they get out of kneeling for now.

Not voting should not zero star it. It should count as no vote.

You'd have to choose one star then choose zero before it actually counts as zero. It should not be possible to do without clicking anything AFAIK.

Would be nice with a "show only mission you HAVE voted for" so one could go back and see if the feedback helped and it's time to upgrade that vote. I don't think we can do that...

Well, I have Dark (snipe, blast, cone blast, cone immob, extra melee attack from super speed set) - I can stealth (Superspeed) - I can to some extent keep mobs away (darks cone immob - again, and Whirlwind!!), and got usefull selfcast spells (aoe heal, heal and energy aoe buff) so not all my abilities are a waste, actually just heal other, mez protect other and buff other (single) are (and they work on allies when I have some).

But DpS from all those abilities is still not great so I'm stuck with enemies for longer than most and if they hit hard and have high mez protect - or just hit solid from range (which 'the Final Hurdle' of many mission do) I'm pretty much toast (I've learend to take other stuff down with what I got, clear a retreat area + hit & run)

I was just looking for a sublist of DC missions that were more storydriven only, and less about the big hurdle at the end (Even downgraded to EB as AV's are on Heroic they are clearly too much). I'm not looking for tickets here, just for good content.

Before I waste any more time.. are *any* of the DC missions even worth looking at for a Level 31 Empathy/Dark Defender (Heroic)?

Or add them as an easy encounter, sitting down discussing "What are we doing here again? Beats me - something about 'Level Range' - didn't get it myself - but .. I get paid to sit in a corner - I'm game!"

Well... I think I'll still keep erring on the side of caution and only report the exploitifarms.

[ QUOTE ]
You really don't understand the characteristics of a farm. I can farm Johnny Sonata easily and profitably.

[/ QUOTE ]

A Farm in my eyes is something where the benefit/risk ratio is seriously and/or intentionally out of wack.

You can grind Johnny Sonata easily and profitably, but so you could a lot of content (like I did in olden days the south of Skyway or Brickstown)

That doesn't make it a farm in my view - but to each his own definition I guess.

I'm just saying that disguising a Farm as a story isn't going to stop it from being reported if it can be abused to farm with.

I'm pretty sure I could have made an excellent Rikti Comm. officer Mission, story-wise.

Most likely the GM's will be more forthcoming in getting your mission live again in a non-explotable way in a case like that.

I wouldn't worry, but yeah - using explotable mobs in an exploitable combination will fall back on the author I'm afraid, until fixed.



I got another idea btw.

right now the mission list is DC,5,4,3,2,1

make this DC,POTD,5,4,3,2,1

Where POTD = Pick of the Day
40 random 5 star, 40 random 4 star, 20 random 3 star
chosen (random) once per day and stuck in before the "Page 1 5 Stars" and sorted randomly too, staying there like that till the next day.

Would take a lot of incitement to upvote friends/downvote enemies away.