Oubliette

I keep shooting for a miracle here in the asking, but, regardless of all these wild speculations and damning opinionated mumbo-jumbo, the topic at hand is still:

This --> Seeking developer confirmation (one way or another)OR a link to a quote from a developer concerning the current incarnation of the closed beta and the specifics of who will be participating in said incarnation of the current closed beta. A time-frame would also be helpful (e.g. if there are stages such as: In House> Devs and Family> Vets> etc.)

Not This--> What you think about the closed beta. (Speculation)
Not This--> Who you think will or wont be in said closed beta. (Wild Speculation)
Not This--> Intimations that other people need to "calm down" because they're not in the beta. (Inflammatory)

Please, help this stay on topic. Thank you.

I am pleased someone else is on the same page as I am. Yes, EXACTLY.

To reiterate...

and not get off topic. I'm not looking for a "WHY" I'm not in Beta, I'm looking for a clarification on WHO will be participating in the current incarnation of the beta test.

I suspect someone will drop by with some facts sooner or later or we'll see an announcement.

Just interested in facts rather than guesses.

As the title states, I'm unclear as to who has access to the current incarnation of the closed Beta. I was in the Closed Beta for Dual Pistols and assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that I'd have a chance to test out Ultra Mode (which I'm eager to see in action).

Lighthouse mentions propagating accounts may have 48 hours lag but I'm unsure that relates to this issue and I have not seen any clarification as to who will be participating in the Closed Beta at this time. Do we need to request access as it was with the DP closed Beta?

Niv, Och, other equally important official types: Could we get some clarification?

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams,
-The Oubliette

Thanks for your very verbose and thoughtful review Bubbawheat. I can't disagree much and feel you've hit the nail on the head. A couple of thoughts on the items you mentioned.

Re: "10 items > Chained event": Yes, I agree, I can certainly lower this amount as I agree it might be a bit much. This was one mission I kept the contact chained as to avoid it being something people complete too quickly (as it's the only mission in the arc that can't be knocked out in 5-10 minutes by our testing. 10 may be a bit much, agreed.

Re: "Doing Evil": You pegged it when you said M1/M2 are the missions that satisfy that goal alone. I wanted to let the player (of heroic characters) feel they'd done something rather terrible and now were on a path to revenge. I didn't know how others would see it but I didn't feel revenge was entirely heroic, connected with wrath and all but, some might feel they were taking revenge and others may have felt they were enacting justice. In the end, it's up to the player and for some, they might feel they were able to salvage their heroism in the end despite Hallow's plot leading to the "damage done". Very important to a number of characters.

Re: Bookcase in middle: Here we have a classic case of creator flaw. I tried my damnedest to get that bookcase into the back if the may but whenever I set it on a specific location, it would appear in the first room. The Mission Architect, for all it's good points, needs to be beaten with a stick until all the bugs fall out or die. There's a few other things in the creator like that, which sadly prevented me from doing more with the encounters but we accept these little minuses and work within our best ability. Let's call it a challenge?

Re: Hallow Eve/Level: She's a bit tough. I know this. I don't feel she's solo-able in any real sense of the word. I found I could deal with her like one would solo any AV. Several +Def Insps, but at L17, I guess any EB would be dangerous. I'll see about raising the level of the arc.

Again, thank you for your time in looking at the mission, feedback makes it all worthwhile.
/bow

-Oubliette

Congratulations to the winner.

I've not had time to play it but I shall give it a try when I have time.

Okay. Solved. Sort-of.

For the sake of information, here's what I learned. In testing, I restructured some of my custom villain groups. I found that ally npcs, who turn on you, yield no XP when fought. This may be as intended but it was unclear at the time and I haven't seen anything about allies who betray you in the patch notes. It was difficult to pinpoint this because there were other mobs not yielding xp/influence.

In short, it's solved. I know the reason for some of the XP lack and don't understand the reason other xp loss.

Working on a mission for a couple weeks. Published it and sked some folks to try it and they started reporting an oddness.

SEVERAL mobs in the mission were rewarding NO xp.

1. Several "Defeat A Boss" objectives, the boss rewards no XP.

2. In a custom villain group, filled mainly with standard (but renamed) mobs, and 1 custom mob, with an even level spread (minions, Lt.s, bosses), the custom mob was awarding no xp. I removed the custom mob and then the REST of the group began rewarding no xp, despite they awarded it before I removed the custom mob.

3. I've checked my custom mobs for correct scale of powers and even redesigned one with ALL the powers and still it rewards no xp.

I'm pulling my hair out, especially since I didn't notice the issue UNTIL I submitted it to the Aeon contest. I've spent all night trying to sort this out and I'd like to get this nailed down ultra-soon.

There may be a better place to ask this question, if there is please direct me. I don't often post or peruse. Thank you.

Working on a mission for a couple weeks. Published it and sked some folks to try it and they started reporting an oddness.

SEVERAL mobs in the mission were rewarding NO xp.

1. Several "Defeat A Boss" objectives, the boss rewards no XP.

2. In a custom villain group, filled mainly with standard (but renamed) mobs, and 1 custom mob, with an even level spread (minions, Lt.s, bosses), the custom mob was awarding no xp. I removed the custom mob and then the REST of the group began rewarding no xp, despite they awarded it before I removed the custom mob.

3. I've checked my custom mobs for correct scale of powers and even redesigned one with ALL the powers and still it rewards no xp.

I'm pulling my hair out, especially since I didn't notice the issue UNTIL I submitted it to the Aeon contest. I've spent all night trying to sort this out and I'd like to get this nailed down ultra-soon.

There may be a better place to ask this question, if there is please direct me. I don't often post or peruse. Thank you.

Excellent advice, it helped me greatly too. I found my mission file RIDDLED with whitespace entries.

Has someone been putting diesel into the mission architect device? It only takes regular petrol.

Dear Dr. Aeon,

Enclosed you will find two tickets to "The Littlest Crab Spider" at the Cap Au Diable Conservatory, as well as my latest manuscript. It's a little something I penned, full of sinister plots, Damoclean swords, betrayals and degradation, called "Evil By Inches" Arc #349967. I wonder if we could get Ally Sheedy for the lead role. I'll let your marketing boys worry about the specifics.

On a side note, I recently found myself up all night on a boozy, writer's bender, late enough to catch your animated diversion for the little children. Interesting artistic license you've taken making The Statesman so short while you yourself have been portrayed as a hulking behemoth, though I found your use of Mr. T arriving at the conclusion of each episode to deliver a nugget of wisdom particularly profound. Bully to you sir.

Yours in perpetuity,
-Oubliette

Arc Name: Evil By Inches
Arc ID: 349967
Faction: Custom
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Oubliette
Difficulty Level: Medium

Synopsis: When a sinister villain plots to infect the village of Astoria Hills and sets in motion a plot set to unravel the very the minds of Paragon City and shaking their trust to the core, proving even heroism can be turned to evil by degrees, especially when done in the name of the "greater good".

Estimated Time to Play: 60 minutes
Link to More Details or Feedback:

http://www.virtueverse.com/index.php/Astoria_Asylum

Edit: 4:00am, 3/12/09 ((currently, I'm having a major issue of all my custom critters are giving no XP. No solution as of present. Hoping to get help with it from the bug team and/or forum geniuses before the deadline. This is most inconvenient)

Edit: 3:20pm 3/12/09 ((All fixes done, with help from the tech support department. Game on!

QFE.
yes.. who wrote this one? ... come on guys, this one's a stinker. Even on the villain side, you'd think as villains we'd keep the presents?? Right?

I've been playing this game a long time and I'm hard pressed to think of a mission with less pizazz. I'm sure the live event was fab but the "steal/save presents" mission was a stinker. A little retroactive badge would certainly balm the sting.

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Count me in as another one disappointed in the wedding gift mission. I was hoping that there would actually be some incentive to complete the mission- perhaps unlocking those roman costume parts, a badge, a temp power, something, anything.

Instead I got nothing. I'll run the villain-side mission once on my highest villain just to see what it's like. But there's no reason for me to do it with anyone else. The concept of the mission is interesting, but I wish there was incentive to do it.

Instead of the contact saying "Oh thanks I get to keep my job", it would be cooler if she had said "Sister Psyche and Manticore are extremely grateful to you for getting their wedding gifts back. As a thank you gift, they asked me to give you this- insert name of costume piece, badge, temp power here."

As for the forced cross faction teaming, I wish they would change that. Perhaps a really good buff of some sort for having an opposing faction member on your team, but at least if none are present, the mish would still be do-able.

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I am putting the requirements for Contacts - and their location - in the Prima Guide...

but here was our intent with these Contacts - reward Exploration. Reward people who poke around to find new things. Now, the down side is that once found, these Contacts don't inform the player about what it takes to unlock them.

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Doc Buzsaw- Requires Bling Badge: 1,000,000 Influence.
I got the badge at Level 30... lol, and the contact won't talk to me past level 29...

States... what's up with this?