Slashman

Well I found out what the problem is.

They completely removed the map I was using from the MA.

And I have to say...I'm totally pissed!

That was the ONLY tech lab map that matched the gist of my story arc...because it had the Clone room on the last floor.

It seems the Crey Paragon Clone Lab...or whatever its name was...is now unavailable.

No idea if this is a bug or if they just went ahead and removed it from the MA for some reason.

I'll just have to pick a standard tech map to use...but this totally ticks me off.

Hmmm...I'll try this.

Thanks!

Not sure if others are getting this problem too but...

My MA arc will no longer run. I had it published and it was played and rated 30 times.

A friend of mine told me this morning that she couldn't get it to start and I tried it myself and it was true.

When I edited it, it says that the story was too large(it wasn't before), so I edited down some text and got it under 100% again.

Then when I tried to republish, it says: 'Unable to publish Arc: A mission has too many ambush, boss, patrol or destroy details.'

But it doesn't specifiy the mission and that error didn't show up when I was editing. Now I'm thinking I may have to lose my ratings by unpublishing and redoing it....but I still don't know where the error is...because no errors show up when I'm editing.

What do I do from here? I put a lot of work into that arc...so I really don't want to have to trash it and remake it.

The Arc number is 120531

What about the fact that we can't put spaces in our bios now...and if we edit our existing ones...then the spaces are all removed...leaving a virtual wall of text.

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Known issue that already had several threads about it.

Also, if you open the ID of a character who does have line breaks in it then it will also change to a wall-o-text.

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Ah I see. I didn't know it was well known. Thanks for the reply!

Hey guys,

Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer separate your bios into paragraphs by hitting enter twice to jump down 2 lines?

I made a new toon yesterday and realized that no matter how I wrote my bio in the ID screen it displayed with no line breaks.

Anyone else getting this or am I the only one?

Hey Arcanaville,

I've always wondered what would happen if SR was made in such a way that, instead of an increase in resists when health is low...you get an incremental increase in defense instead.

This would add to the thematic feel of depending on your speed and reflexes. In a sense...as you get closer to falling...you dredge up a bit more focus and fight that much better. The balance to this would be to introduce a permanent -hitpoint penalty for simply taking SR as a secondary. Would/could that work at all?

I mean...if your primary defense is to avoid damage...then you're not going to be all that robust in comparison to other guys who mitigate it in other ways.

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Interesting read, thanks. Apparently I am very very old.

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Apparently you really are...

I mean I'm 33ish...I thought Steam was a household word. Probably just to geek PC gamers like me...

Thanks for the input. I was talking about chaining them to a single hostage rescue. Guess I'll have to make do. Maybe add a boss along the way to the rescue to spawn an extra off of him.

That aside, I loved your Moonbase arc! Great work!!

Quick question!

How can I make ambushes repeat one after another like they do in standard missions. I'd like to get 3 waves of attacks in my mission after I rescue the hostage, but I don't see an option for it.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies!

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So much for the "buff".... But I'm sure the nerf part will work as planned.

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Well all I can say is that if this doesn't fix the Bruiser, Grave Knights and Jounin...then I'd sure like to know what the real problem with them is. I'm sure it would make for some interesting discussion...

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It would make so much more sense if we simply were allowed to slot any power with any kind of enhancement.

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No, it actually wouldn't. Some powers would see no benefit from certain enhancements even if you could slot it. What do you imagine an end mod enhancements would do to improve Gun Drone? Oh wait...nothing!

Now I have jumped on the devs myself when they have done things that I don't agree with. Repeatedly.

I am honestly having trouble though, with the 'huge number' of people who suddenly find that -recharge was the only thing making their pets worth a damn.

If pets NEED that type of boost to be effective, then there is something wrong with the pet...period. If Gun Drone is 'useless' without a -recharge to its attack and LS is laughable without a -recharge to its attack and VS is also similarly useless, then these things need a buff. Especially since that -recharge buff was a side effect of something introduced to the game that wasn't initially meant to happen.

When someone comes and posts about how they are shelving all their storm toons because suddenly, they are broken and worthless, its silly.

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What is really silly is that a tier 9 power is totally subpar to others when it is not properly enhanced, including -recharge among others.

While at the same time some other powers that are right out of the box awesome ( like MindLink ) can still get even better because they keep their "sneak -recharge IO slotting" untouched.

Silly indeed.

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Maybe what's silly is that people have a preconceived notion of what a power is supposed to do and don't look at the context of the power and the set it is in.

Lightning Storm is a compliment to the other powers in the Storm Summoning set. Its still a power for defenders, controllers and corruptors. I highly doubt its purpose was to be a stand-alone mini-blaster. It does AoE knockback and some damage. When used with the rest of the storm powers...its hardly subpar.

VS and Gun Drone, and this is just my opinion, both need a second attack or utility function to round them out. That does not mean that they should inherit recharge to attacks from the caster or IO sets.

Yes, I understand that some people will be affected, but I don't think they are affected to the degree where the toon is so much less effective, that they need to shelve it.

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It would make so much more sense if we simply were allowed to slot any power with any kind of enhancement.

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No, it actually wouldn't. Some powers would see no benefit from certain enhancements even if you could slot it. What do you imagine an end mod enhancements would do to improve Gun Drone? Oh wait...nothing!

Now I have jumped on the devs myself when they have done things that I don't agree with. Repeatedly.

I am honestly having trouble though, with the 'huge number' of people who suddenly find that -recharge was the only thing making their pets worth a damn.

If pets NEED that type of boost to be effective, then there is something wrong with the pet...period. If Gun Drone is 'useless' without a -recharge to its attack and LS is laughable without a -recharge to its attack and VS is also similarly useless, then these things need a buff. Especially since that -recharge buff was a side effect of something introduced to the game that wasn't initially meant to happen.

When someone comes and posts about how they are shelving all their storm toons because suddenly, they are broken and worthless, its silly.

Its win! Pure and simple!

Now put these on TV where they belong!!!!

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Did somebody order a large ham?

I found it funny but i think it needed about 10 seconds of fast action shots with explosions at the end.

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I agree, it was cute but you need to show how easy it is to use the user interface and all the cool customizations on the costumes and bases. You'll get more interest in the game. I was in Walmart last night. I decided to look in the Magazine section. Picked up a gaming magazine. City of Heroes had a small ad in it about having the Mac edition now. Warhammer, WOW, LOTR online, and Conan had HUGE spreads about their games. If you really want to help boost your subscribtions advertise in the magazines, get them to showcase this game. Just my 2 cents.

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That and can you please hurry up and finish City Vault?? Or at least announce that its dead and gone and stop having us hold out hope...

Yeah, I don't think this was the ideal execution for this idea.

I'd prefer some kind of choice as to if I use a group version or single target version of the upgrades.

The problem is that it works better for some MMs than others. A bots/FF will be fine, but I cannot even begin to fathom how this will play out for my ninjas/TA. I have to re-summon genin so many times during a mission its not funny. Do I simply not play it anymore? Or do I just let my Jounins and Oni do all the work hoping that their higher HP will be enough?

If the buff could target specific groups, then I'd be a bit less put out. If buffing a genin buffed only the genin group and buffing a Jounin buffed only the Jounin group and so forth. That would still be a significant decrease in buff time while allowing more flexibility for MMs in general. Then the end cost could be lowered a bit to compensate and I think it would make everyone happier...maybe.

Buffing 6 times total at the start of a mission is still much better than buffing 12 times so I think it would work.

Can I humbly request that at least one more mission is added to the Winter Event? We all like running the Baby New Year mish multiple times but with so many alts it would be nice to be able to alternate and do another mission or 2.

That said, I DO love the stuff you've done with the event so far...so keep making it BETTER!

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I suggest you try anyway. You've got enough skills that they might just let you pick up the package on the job, especially if you're a fast learner.

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Please Dark Respite...don't let them sink any lower!!!

NCSoft!! Hire her!!!

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I guess no CG anymore

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I miss the good old days of CGI from the COV promo vids.

Now THAT made me want to play the game.

Also, if you really want to attract people, I suggest getting City Vault off the ground so folks can showcase their toons and backstories etc. I'd think that people would be more sold on the costume aspect by seeing the creativity of the player base than by a single video with a few toons.

I love the devs and their work on this game but I'm very underwhelmed by the marketing efforts of NCSoft. What are they truly doing to promote COX?

I always feel like the game is getting great stuff added(ok Issue 13 didn't overwhelm me, but still...) and then people aren't really hearing about it or not enough to push up subscription numbers to any meaningful degree. Its a really half-hearted marketing effort from the outside looking in.

I go to website after website and see Eve Online and they are growing their subscribers and expanding their server infrastructure and people keep hearing about it.

A new COX issue hits and it maybe gets a blurb or 2 on a dedicated MMO site and then...fizzle...

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I got the impression that there would be around 1,000 specific maps to work with. Not tilesets - specific maps. These maps all have anchors where things happen (paintings/wall safes can be places here here or here, desks/terminal/floor vaults can be placed here, here, or here). Similar anchors exist for hostages, and even the enemy spawns. I think you'll be able to populate those anchors specifically, so the placement of stuff on the map should be controlable be a designer. "I want some hellions over in this corner, and some skulls over there. The target painting glowy always appears back in that room at wall anchor 5 - right next to the thief-boss I've placed in the room."

You only use random maps to try to generate (IMO false) replayability, and with people creating missions in vast numbers, replayability of any single mission is not something the tool needs to preserve. Precision scripting is the only way mechanics will be able to back up story.

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I'm hoping that's the kind of thing we get.

My idea was to create a story arc which tells the story of several characters of mine to the player who experiences the missions from helping them complete certain objectives and acquire information etc. To tell the story the way I would want to though, requires me to have the ability to put those characters into the missions with their powers(or at least SOME of their powers to make it believable).

Other things I'd like to be able to do: Suppress all travel powers, suppress all stealth powers, put in base defenses and security networks to hack or control. Put an NPC inside a mission that its possible to interact with and talk to with branching dialogue options.

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Slashman, we can't import our own heroes/villains into the missions because NPC AI is .....dumb, but if we have the abiliy to reskin existing NPCs, wouldn't that be good enough? In the future they could work out a system that lets us actually choose from a list of powers and lets us create NPCs for our missions, but at release I would completely happy if we just had the option to reskin. I'm not just talking bosses or AVs. I want to reskin everyone from the minions up to AVs. This will allow us to make our own enemy groups for a much more interesting and creative experience. If we are stuck using existing NPCs only....I personally will view it as a wash.

I'm picturing a system that allows you to pick two minions from a list of all minions for your mission's lvl range, then two Lieuts and two bosses. You would only be selecting the powers though because you can change the look of each one to create your own unique mobs. You would then reskin an AV/Hero as the top dog. Just imagine a group made up of Tsoo/Talsorian/Knifes of Artimitus/Red Caps....reskinned to look like pink fairy ninjas with wings! Ahhh the possabilities are endless.

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Well I concede that if we can reskin the NPCs then it would go a long way. Still, there are things that I'd like to have the system capable of that I'm getting the feeling it won't allow.

For instance, I doubt that we can go into the map for the mission and position things and critical encounters to make the story flow a certain way. We've been told that the map will be generated. We'll get a specific tileset but a random layout.

Look. That's just one thing. My main problem as I've stated is that 'creating missions like the Devs' isn't all that exciting a prospect. The missions they have been creating over the past 4 years are extremely repetitive and bland save for a few. I'll always love Mayhems, don't get me wrong, but for far too long we have been getting the same enter front door, kill X number of badguys and possibly escort an NPC somewhere.

The mission system the Devs use needs an upgrade...we don't need the exact same capability to create the same limited scope missions that they do. Granted, I'm sure it will satisfy people who just want to put their stuff out there but I'm not happy getting an already limited system with additional limits.

This is just my personal rant and I don't expect everyone to share my view. However, I've been waiting 4 years for the Dev team to add new and interesting stuff to do in our missions to make them more compelling and largely there's been nothing. Its still click the glowy. Or automatically disarm the bomb(never mind that the bombs have been set by a villain group with extremely high technical prowess...just pull out all the wires and voila). I'm saying they haven't upgraded their own mission creator. Why in the heck are they trying to give us one that is in the same state(or worse since we can't write scripts or alter code to get around the limitations)?

Go to any game forum on the net and bring up COX and you'll hear the same kinds of things. 'Are their any more tilesets? I can't stand seeing the same ones over and over.'

'Are there any different kind's of missions? The kill all the bad guys thing gets old.' Yes it does get old when you don't feel like the setting of the mission helps to drive home the story being told.

If missions and their lack of variety are arguably the weakest part of this game, why give us a system that will highlight just how limited it is? This is why I'm hoping that there are things to come that we haven't seen yet.

I don't mind being proven horribly wrong(I liked Inventions more than I thought I would), I just have the sinking feeling that this time I won't be.

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Judging from your questions, I'm wagering you'll be one of the people most let down by the Architect.

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Probably. But I'm also willing to admit that maybe I've been spoiled by other games with moddable/user created content(Neverwinter Nights, Half Life 2, Unreal Tournament, Battlefield etc.).

Right now I don't see the point of a mission creator with this limited scope. I hope there is more to Issue 13.

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If it is a failure it will be a shame. The fact that you can't even reskin existing NPCs for your missions sucks. They said they want to give us that option, but just the fact that it isn't an option tells me that the mission creator is not going to be as great as many are hoping. I think it would have been great to have a poll or open forum about what we the players would want to see in a mission creator BEFORE it was made. Now they are seeing what we really want and expect from it on these forums and it seems like they are scrambling to try to make it better. I gotta agree with Duuk, because this has such ridiculous potential of being the best thing added to this game since creation...the bar couldn't be any higher. If they fail to deliver a great system, there will be a huge backlash.

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The biggest letdown to me right now is that we apparently can't even import our own toons to use in the missions we make. This is due to the fact that NPC AI is so dumb it can't use a large number of our powers without special scripting. The AI can't use pet summons or any target location type powers.

When the mission creator was first announced, I immediately had an idea to create a series of missions revolving around 6 of my characters on Victory. The fact that I can't use them as NPCs in the game makes creating the story arc I want an impossibility.

So many questions come to mind that have yet to be answered. Like:

1) Can we place specific and editable spawns in certain places?

2) Can we trigger not just ambushes but spawns in certain places in response to specific objective completions from the player?

3) Can we do anything at all with AI scripting for NPCs?

4) Can we award Temp Powers of any kind for the duration of the mission only?

5) Can we create branching story arcs with multiple outcomes?

6) Can we actually edit the maps at all? Or can we simply select a tileset?

The list goes on, but those are a few of the things that people who want to DESIGN missions and story arcs are probably going to want control over. I don't see us getting even half of them.

For the past 5 or so issues this dev team has been on a roll. This seems like a really weird shift in direction and momentum. Maybe I'm being short sighted and can't see where they are going with this...but right now I see us, the players, getting a broken/incomplete feature that even the devs have to use tricks to manipulate to create the type of missions they make for us on a regular basis. That's not a step forward.

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I have to say this sums up my feelings exactly.

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Thank you. I'm glad someone sees my point.

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My guess of down the line is either I14 or maybe even I13.1. Remember, they say they're using these tools too. So this sort of customization would be something they want as much as we do.

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Of course that means months...possibly 3 or more with an incomplete editor.

My point was/is that you make the tools you want to use internally FIRST and complete and THEN release them to the public. That's effectively what developer released modding tools are. Customization options are even more important if you're doing it for an MMO than any other game because in most games where player modders don't have the resources they want to do a specific thing...they then either create them or get them from elsewhere and import them into the game. This is impossible to do in an MMO. In my opinion its one of the reasons why when it was tried before (Saga of Ryzom), it didn't pan out.

If you're going to revamp your own internal mission creation tools and add most options and objective types in missions etc. Then I think it would make sense to release a large chunk of content done with the new tools that blows people's socks off and say 'Here! This is the kind of thing you can do with what we've given you! Take it and run with it!'

I'm just not seeing how this fits in with the flow of an MMO.