Geek_Boy

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Really, was broadcasting ever an efficient way of getting on a team?

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I wasn't here for Issue 1, so maybe back then? Because it certainly hasn't been since I started playing.

I think the devs need to do the opposite of every single thing you post.

I think the best solution to your "problem" would be for the mods to ban everyone who talks about these sorts of "problems" for a week or so. The forums would be fricking dead, but the few of us left would have so many interesting things to talk about.

New players are good things. Bad players are a constant.

Honestly, the odds are I'd probably go nuts on a team with all these "uber" players who think all these new folks are terrible at the game. They probably are too, but think that since they got that Peacebringer with no attacks and the Medicine Pool to 50, they're fantastic at this game.

I love that we get to pretend that it's the AE's fault that there are some newbies that don't know what they're doing. As if my entire playing experience hasn't been filled with these people.

Just be glad the game has some new blood and quit your whining.

I think a mod should retitle this thread "Terrible Ideas On How to Fix Something That Isn't Broken."

There are about 100012384986775893472875 ParaCon arcs and they all have their own charm. Who had the idea first? Who cares?

If you're still taking submissions, I'd be interested in seeing what you'd think of my "main" arc.

Speeding Through Time
Arc ID: 51728
Length: Long
Morality: Heroic
Description: A man claiming to be a former member of the Freedom Phalanx insists he needs your help to combat a menace you've never heard of. Is this just a delusional old man or are you really about to save the world from a threat that time has forgotten? Come for the story, not the XP. EB's and allies abound.

I haven't handed this out to Venture (not that he has time with that queue anyway) since he hates time travel so much, but I think you've got a eye for balancing fun and story than he does. This arc is meant to be a ton of fun and something you don't see in the official content, which I think I accomplished quite well.

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Oh, and I played Axis and Allies and really enjoyed it. I sent you feedback from my actual global (@Geekboy).

I keep checking your thread to see what's up, so don't lose hope just yet. I know my arc hasn't been played yet because you're too low to really hold your own in there. When you get into the 30's or so, I think you'll get a lot more suggestions and interest since you'll be cruising through the level ranges that most of us have written for.

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If the dev's made AE no xp that would be a very bad move & would leave the AE building dead. It would anger most of COX population and they would lose more customer's, just like what happened when they nerfed pvp into garbage.

COX only has 2 populated server's now Freedom being #1. Not even a year ago other server's were thriving, but not anymore. So tell me something.

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I can agree with most of this, but since I only know like 2 people out of 150 or so I play or have played with regularly who actually PVP'd consistently, I don't think "a lot" of people left over PVP.

no

also, no

no, no, and no

I've been a little conflicted on what to put in there myself since while 2 of my 3 arcs have an Extreme AV in them and I put them as "Challenge," both of them are optional in every way and it's made very clear to the player that they don't have to fight them. I don't think they're really "Challenge" missions, but the other tags don't seem to fit either.

"Solo Friendly" indicates anyone can solo it, which isn't really the case since I know that if I put it under that classification some Peacebringer with no attacks, only his heals, and the Medicine Pool (yes, I've seen a screenshot of a PB specced that way) will complain that they couldn't take out the EB that's been scaled down to a Boss because they're playing at Heroic.

They are easily soloed if you have someone who can handle an EB set to Standard (or one that appears in the game anyway), so they aren't really the "Team Oriented" or whatever it's called.

So I guess it will just take some time for the playing community to decide what these terms mean to them, we authors to come up with a consistent definition when we publish, some other options to be added (which I'm not really all that in favor of since eventually it would be so specific as to be stifling), or some mix of some or all of those.

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I'm just saying its downright idiotic and arrogant to assume anyone who didnt like your arc and didnt explain why MUST be a griefer.

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I can agree with that, but pre-I15 I had all sorts of arguments with people who just refused to believe that the griefing was happening at all. This was at the height of it when people were openly talking about 0 starring everything on the front page to be sure their arc could get there instead (which is completely self-defeating since even if their Naruto fan-fic made it there, it would just be hit by the same group of people and bombed into obscurity anyway).

It was happening before and I'm sure it's still happening now, but without the 0 star weapon, they have a lot less impact.

I've gotten reviews from people who just plain haven't liked some of my arcs and even had them explain all the reasons why. I've come to realize that there are folks out there giving such great advice as "too many commas" when they're handing you their 1 star rating that you simply have no chance of pleasing. And that's fine. Their opinion might be on the fringe at best, but they're entitled to it.

And now they can't magically tank my arc with their one vote. Hurray for the loss of the 0 star!

It's hard to not take it as griefing sometimes when the only feedback you ever receive is "one of the best I've played" and such (of which I have dozens) because you assume everyone must have similar tastes, but they just don't. One man's trash is another man's treasure, your mileage may vary, etc etc.

But 5-10 0 stars all within a few minutes with zero progress on your playthroughs? That was always more than a little suspicious.

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(QR)

Best part of this thread is the multiple comments saying "Or maybe you suck."

And not best in a good way.

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No kidding. Most of the people that seem to think this doesn't happen have never had an arc with more than 50 votes in the pre-I15 environment. It isn't as bad as it was (since a 0 star was absolutely devastating statistically, especially when you magically get 6 or 8 of them in a two minute period with no additions to your playthrough badge) since now there are so many 5 star arcs that that front page isn't as big a target as it used to be.

I'm sure it's still going on, but I'm not too worried about it. The number of ratings griefers was never that large, but the power they had was disproportionate to the power someone rating you 5 stars had.

People who don't rate anything 5 stars crack me up. Your tastes are just sooooo refined that there's nothing us mere plebians who are doing this for fun and with no change of any real rewards can come up with that will meet your high standards.

I'm in complete agreement even though I normally show it by taunting the people who think it's "broken."

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REALMS OF PAIN

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The best part is that when the folks I play with are discussing terrible arcs, the go-to buzzword is "Naruto fanfic." This one is like a text-book on how to write a terrible arc.

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Liers go to hell.

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Really? What a shame that a whole town is condemned just for where they live . . .

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and on a more amusing note. I challenge any of these "the MA doesnt need xp" types to turn off their exp in their options settings and then play AE missions all day. Oh. and any tickets or influence you get You are required to throw away and not use.

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I have spent upwards of six hours with my lvl 50 Brute randomly picking and playing AE missions. No XP, and negligible tickets. Since I almost never transfer cash between characters, that's about as close to 0 reward as you can get.

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I've spent a lot more time than that on my 50 to get tickets and inf to buy the last few IO's I want for him. He spent most of the 40's in there and I've played him a ton at level 50 in there. The rewards are actually fantastic, so no. This doesn't count.

I had a complaint filed against Speeding Through Time, but it was blank. I was actually disappointed when I saw it was blank because I was looking forward to what stupid thing someone thought I had found that made them think I was doing something naughty.

I would guess it's because of the third mission, which has a veritable army of allies. Of course, that isn't in any way an exploit because while they destroy the whole map for you in insane and hilarious ways, you get very little XP in that mission.

But alas, I shall never know. Random user felt the need to file a complaint, but wasn't passionate enough to say what said complaint was about.

The people who filed your complaints probably have pants with buttons because zippers are sinful because they make your clothes too easy to take off (yes, there are people that believe this).

QR:

Threads like this always amaze me. I'm just baffled that so many people are so thick in the skull.

Some of you have this tiny little narrow view of how this game should work and now that we all have a new toy to play with, you're throwing a temper tantrum because you want us all to play with your blocks and not our cool new legos.

The only problems with the Mission Architect are that we need more tools and a better rating system. Risk/Reward is just fine in the vast majority of the missions out there.

Your anecdotal evidence about being pestered in Broadcast and tells means less than nothing to me. My anecdotal evidence contradicts yours and still means less than nothing.

Honestly, the fact that you're reading Broadcast says more to me than any of the other million words that have been typed about all the "problems" with AE. I relegated it out of my main chat box within two months of starting to play CoX back in 2004.

Yes

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Implement Diminishing Returns on tickets and XP earned from running arcs within a certain time frame.

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It should be noted that the devs did not implement this stricture on their own repeatable mission provider: Ouroboros.

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Exactly.

I think the very best way to improve this aspect of the AE is for people to stop caring how other players are playing the game and just start focusing on enjoying themselves.

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They've only slightly decreased the impact of griefers, this really does nothing to fix the rating system.

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It does "something." It doesn't magically make it puppies and sunshine, but it's better than it was.

Statistically speaking, a vote of 1 is waaaaay easier to overcome than a vote of 0.

Just like I predicted, we have a ton of 5 star arcs now that I15 is live and they chucked all the 0 star ratings.

Now, a huge number of those have 10 or less votes (I'm up to page 139 and losing interest), but a lot of the arcs that were really nice that had been grief-voted into oblivion are back where they should be.

We've got 5 HoF arcs at the moment and several in striking distance again.

I'm particularly amused to see my own Speeding Through Time go from 4 to 5 stars with no change in the number of votes (371).

Well, at least it did before I opened my big mouth on the forums.

There's still a lot wrong with the MA, but this is a huge step in the right direction.

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Got home early from work today and saw 15 went live, so I thought I'd jump on and run the new SF before the wife and kid got home. I've been trying for 25 minutes now and can't find a single person that will try a brand new SF....yet the AE is crammed full of farmers as usual. Yep, everything is perfectly normal.

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Uh, it's Monday night and most people aren't going to be home from work yet.

Also, I know I've spent most of my playtime today (took a vacation day for completely unrelated reasons) in the AE updating my arcs to take advantage of the tags and such.

I'm sure if you saw me in there, you thought I was a dirty farmer, though.

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I haven't played the arc specifically for this reason - I know it won't appeal to me to have any kind of romantic attachment between my character and an NPC or contact. The very thought makes me shudder.

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Uh, that's kinda the point.

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But Footsteps oscillated at near-HoF for a long time, that's no surprise to me.

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It was actually the first HoF arc. Muu has 4 arcs up, but can't edit any of them (even though one is broken) unless Footsteps is HoF at the exact moment he republishes. Tell me that aint screwed up.