bzald

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I can't wait to see all of SGs that create a mission and force players to run it before they can be initiated into the SG.

I imagine a good portion of these will be the same ones that blind SG invite people in Atlas.

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I'd imagine just the opposite. Blind inviting people in Atlas represents the absolute lowest possible bid for recruitment. Actually creating a story arc and expecting recruits to go through it suggests a much greater level of commitment, whether the arc is designed to be painfully difficult (to weed out only sufficiently competent players), or some kind of roleplaying tie-in, or just an in-game tutorial for SG rules. Something like this... <NPC made to look and speak like the SG leader>: "Thanks for helping me defeat those Council Troops, Awesome Guy! I'm heading back to the Justice Lounge now, and if you'll come by later you can fill out some official membership paperwork and get access to our full set of Teleporters, Med Bay, storage for Salvage, Inspirations and Enhancements, and recreation facilities. We just ask that you maintain proper decorum in the official communication channel (OOC: SG and Coalition chat are In Character please), and wear your team badge around so people can see you're working with us (OOC: Please play in SG mode until level 25)", would be a bit more fun than the standard rundown of the rules.

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i was thinking along the same lines

lol hurry up dev and start shelling out more info =P

here is the question you can add to your list ImpulseKing will we be able to add effects like fog thing DA.

im thinking how creepy some of the open area mission would look with that effect.

the second one will we have open air missions?

thx ImpulseKing good work had a question oh

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Mission Architect knowledge base

4. So what do I expect from playing one of these missions?

Well to start with, there can actually be up to FIVE missions in a published arc.

8. Publish.

This is where you submit your blood, sweat, and tears for the enjoyment of the masses. Or so we all hope. Here's the kicker though, you can only have three (3) published missions per ACCOUNT. Now you can publish and UNpublish at will, so please lower the DOOM meter and restart your heart. Go on, we'll wait.


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a little confused here
FIVE missions in a published arc.

Here's the kicker though, you can only have three (3) published missions per ACCOUNT.

do you mean 3 published arc im not sure if this has been pointed out yet

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<QR>

So, I really have this much time on my hands. I went searching for the Architect building's new location in Atlas.

Here's me, with the view from the article

And the block that I believe will be demolished, right below me.

Probably good, it's an eyesore anyway right next to City Hall. It's conveniently across the street from Wentworth's as well.

Edit: Take that back, the view looks more accurate from here:

The Aeon view

Zoomed out

Down

Up

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i though about that as well but what if that was the dr looking at a viewing screen of his lates creations. to see if he likes waht he see's before he post.

i like it, and even if you dont see it as cannon there is always the mission creator. although you can not make a zone i dont think you can still use the ideal to make missions.

Server: freedom
Character Name: citadel keeper
SG/VG Name: bzald citadel
When do you crash: while in missions only
Does it affect all characters: yes
Does it affect only characters in one or more SG's or VG's: yes

questions-ML-12881739-ML-

Server:freedom
Character Name:'Ender
SG/VG Name: bzald cidadle
When do you crash: missions was done tried to exit crashed
Does it affect all characters: not sure
Does it affect only characters in one or more SG's or VG's:yes

Server:
Character Name:'base builder
SG/VG Name: bzald citaldel
When do you crash: changing and putting items in the base room.
Does it affect all characters: dont know that is the only one
Does it affect only characters in one or more SG's or VG's: no

Server:
Character Name:'base builder
SG/VG Name: bzald citaldel
When do you crash: when i was working on base
Does it affect all characters: dont know that is the only one
Does it affect only characters in one or more SG's or VG's: no

she scares me in a good way

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Mission Architect knowledge base.

This was compiled from what I recall of the Mission Architect workshop at Herocon. While I intend this to be a living document, we don't expect more info for a good while. Buckle your seatbelts and keep your eye on the emergency exits. We're going for a RIDE here!


1. Overview. Or what IS the Mission Architect anyway?

The Mission Architect will let us, the players, design missions for other players as well as undertake missions made by other players. Missions from the Architect will be available to heroes AND villains alike on ALL servers. You will finally be able to tell that story about why the Freakshow hate whipped cream, Statesman shall declare "The potato chip aisle is no longer a crime scene." (Yeah that was me), and legions of Blood Widows will sing the praises of Lee Press On Claws! And honestly, who can resist that? I for one, shall welcome our new architect overlords.


2. What the Mission Architect is NOT.

The Mission Architect is not a powerleveling, farming, or badging tool. (Exception for badges directly related to the Mission Architect.) The devs have taken various steps to prevent this feature from being used for those purposes, but I'll discuss those later.


3. Yeah yeah yeah. Where do we go for this thing anyway?

It will all start at Architect Entertainment Stations (AES) placed in multiple zones throughout the game. (1 in a co-op zone was implied, but not guaranteed.) Here you will be able to search for other player made missions to go on with or without a team, or create, save, load, test, publish, or unpublish your own missions. (More on those new terms later.) A quick note about the mission search engine. It will have to sort through content made by ALL players that have published a mission. So it's expected to load slower than the markets load. (Honestly just the search engine alone on the Architect was a big undertaking and we appreciate all of the dev's work that went into it!)


4. So what do I expect from playing one of these missions?

Well to start with, there can actually be up to FIVE missions in a published arc. All Architect missions will be instanced and NOT in an open zone. While you are on an Architect mission it will be similar to being on a Task/Strike Force in regards to other contacts being greyed out. You may well notice that your toon's level has changed while in the mission. Do not be alarmed yet. Your level can shift in either direction and can even vary with each mission in the arc. Why? Because our benevolent Architect overlords whim it so. Ok.. you can be alarmed now.

After the published misson is complete, you can rate it as thumbs up, thumbs down, or inappropriate and why.


5. Weeding out the farmers, a how-to.

Opinions on farming and powerleveling are seldom neutral, and this isn't a forum for that discussion. It IS, however, where you get informed of how the devs are going to discourage the Architect from being overrun with intentionally mindless stuff from folks that do not care about the stories the Architect is intended to encourage. Please keep in mind things can change between now and implementation.

While in an Architect mission players WILL get normal kill xp, inf, prestige, and inspirations. After the arc is complete there may also be a different type of merit (not i13 merit, not Rikti merit) called a skeeball ticket (placeholder name maybe?). Skeeball ticket is all the information we really have. No present idea how they will be used/redeemed.

While in an Architect mission, players will NOT get: end mission bonus, salvage, recipies, or enhancements.

Badges? Only those tied to the Architect folks. Get a change of underwear ready as I give some examples.

Kill x amount of y badges? No.
Healing? Damage taken? Debt? No.
"But what about..." NO. Ain't happening inside the Architect folks.


6. Creating a mish for you and/or others.

The exact order of mission creation isn't known, but at various points you will pick a mission type and goals, enemies and level, possibly a NPC combat ally(s) and/or custom boss, and oh yeah, a premade map and write the thing and save.

Yes I DID say premade map. The devs have promised us over 1,000 maps to choose from at launch, including all unique maps. (They also said no one wants to see Hamidon in the 5-layer room.) They would like to get us a mapmaker at some point, but that point will not be at launch. (It's alot of work for that folks.) Likewise mobs will spawn on the maps at preset points.

The ability to add a custom boss is the feature WE demanded and the reason we are getting the Architect an issue later. It's known that in i13 we get the ability to save and load costumes from our toons to our local computer. We will also be able to download it to a custom boss. Each one will get a primary (attack) and a secondary powerset. It was asked by an audience member if we would be able to scale our custom bosses to Elite Bosses or Archvillain/Hero, but I wasn't clear on the answer given.

No ambushes will be possible with the Architect. Also no cutscenes. (THANK YOU DEVS!!!)

Mission type and goals like glowie clicks or kill-alls are easy enough to understand. Turns out there is a link between enemies and level though, as enemies exist in various ranges and don't always scale out of those ranges well. Call it quality control for a better play experience.

Enemies and allies can be pretty much anything you can already fight somewhere in the game. At the time of Herocon, even Giant Monsters were available for use in Architect missions. I inferred that Giant Monsters may change before launch however. One member of the panel commented that the day before they had fought against 6 AV Clockwork Kings with another one helping them in an Architect mission!

Writing well is always a challenge, and this won't be any different. You will be able to write breifings, NPC dialog, clues, debriefings, and souveniers. Just the same as the Devs! Please keep in mind that the devs have spellchecking software in their process that isn't in the Architect. So take some time to doublecheck for typos is my advice.

Saving is done to your local computer. Now get THIS, you can save an UNLIMITED (by the game) number of missions! And it gets better! You can edit your saved missions offline as they are in a text file! SWEET!!!

What then? Well you might..


7. Test.

You can load up a saved mission and run it for yourself or your team. This can be useful for laughs or less widespread applications like SG initiations and the like. You can test a mission as often as you like. This is also known as running an unpublished mission.


8. Publish.

This is where you submit your blood, sweat, and tears for the enjoyment of the masses. Or so we all hope. Here's the kicker though, you can only have three (3) published missions per ACCOUNT. Now you can publish and UNpublish at will, so please lower the DOOM meter and restart your heart. Go on, we'll wait.

Also worth noting is the toon that is logged on when you publish the mission is the toon that is getting any Architect badge credit for that mission. I don't know if unpublishing a mission and republishing it on the same toon restarts any badge credit for the mission, but I see it as likely.


9. Dev's choice and Hall of Fame

There ARE 2 ways around the 3 published per account limit. Dev's choice and Hall of Fame. These actually copy your mission onto the game servers and delete it from your published slot, freeing it.

Dev's choice simply means a Dev liked it enough to save it. It's not "official" story, but they liked it!

You get a mission into the Hall of Fame when an unknown number of players rate it thumbs up.

Both of these will be search options in the Architect menu.


10. Show me on the doll where the Architect touched you. Flagging for inappropriate.

The devs are trusting us not to publish missions that violate the TOS and EULA, but when it happens you can let them know via the normal /petition or when you rate the mission at the end. There will be an assortment of options to check so we can help the GMs speed up their review. Players found to be in violation might be banned from the Architect system, or you know, the entire game at the GMs discretion.

Now in reverse, if your ex-smizmar or whatever decides to flag all your missions as inappropriate, the GMs will be alert for that too and the ex can be reprimanded for harrassment at the GM's option.

The lesson here is to play nice and civil and spellcheck often. Oh and souveniers are deletable by the player in case of inappropriateness too.


11. Architect badges.

All that's really known is there will be some. I would suspect that Hall of Fame would grant one, but that's my opinion.


12. Author's notes

Ok, well I hope you enjoyed reading this guide and find it useful. This is my 1st crack at writing a guide and it turns out I'm posting it on the 3rd anniversary of my VG's (The Schulls on Victory) founding. If you are interested in writing missions I might recomend checking out back issues of the City Scoop for Content Watch by Plater. Knowing what has been well recieved can only help your chances of being well recieved as well.


13. Mission suggestion example: The impatient player tutorial.

A better place for mission ideas would be the City Life or Forum Games section, but a fellow herocon/workshop attendee inspired this.

Have you ever been on a Pick Up Group (PUG) where 1 person just won't wait for the rest of the team? Of course you have. Well when it happens you can "suggest" this mission. The only real restriction is the map should have a door inside for best effect. Closer to the mission entrance is better. Here's how it should play out..

Team enters the mission and the impatient one dashes ahead to find a glowie and a door. They click the glowie and get the "CLUE FOUND" prompt. Then they heedlessly open the door and find as many AVs/Heroes/GMs as you want to put in. Maybe they say something about reading the clue like "Clue tax of $2.37! PAY UP!!" before/during an epically short beatdown. Oddly enough the rest of the team goes nowhere near the door.

The clue reads "Wait for the team please."

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3. Yeah yeah yeah. Where do we go for this thing anyway?

It will all start at Architect Entertainment Stations (AES) placed in multiple zones throughout the game. (1 in a co-op zone was implied, but not guaranteed.) Here you will be able to search for other player made missions to go on with or without a team, or create, save, load, test, publish, or unpublish your own missions. (More on those new terms later.) A quick note about the mission search engine. It will have to sort through content made by ALL players that have published a mission. So it's expected to load slower than the markets load. (Honestly just the search engine alone on the Architect was a big undertaking and we appreciate all of the dev's work that went into it!)


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the only thing i don't like there is i would have to go on hide just like i do in base building so i don't get telled too death.




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9. Dev's choice and Hall of Fame

There ARE 2 ways around the 3 published per account limit. Dev's choice and Hall of Fame. These actually copy your mission onto the game servers and delete it from your published slot, freeing it.

Dev's choice simply means a Dev liked it enough to save it. It's not "official" story, but they liked it!

You get a mission into the Hall of Fame when an unknown number of players rate it thumbs up.

Both of these will be search options in the Architect menu.

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well both them are nice rewards but i have not heard much more about what may be mission creator rewards owell i guess they will tell us in time. (yea i kind of hopped that my work could be canon owell)


great write up keep up the good work

sorry to see you go lighthouse but im also happy that you are pursue other opportunities outside of NCsoft good luck and god's speed.

i just tried it

night: yes

turn in salvage: yes

result: result nothing

though's: missing somthing?

very well done

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What I'd like some clarity on is a statement by Castle where he says the powers will be just like they were in PVE, and in PVP enabled zones they will have a nerfed performance.

My question is if a given power that only buffs me gets a PVP nerf, does that mean when I go to a PVP Zone for PVE reasons (Shivans, Nukes, RV prestige hunting) that my powers are similarly nerfed?

This might be a serious issue with some folks who love their APPs.

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I'd love to make such a statement for you, but it'd be a lie. The changes for APPs/PPPs are more widespread.

The basic tack we took was "if the power is not being taken by the players, replace it with something that is." So, a number of formerly heroside only powers are now available on villainside, and a number of powers have been replaced by something we feel will be more useful in general.

I'll be very interested in seeing the reactions to the new lists in Beta.

As for the PVP zones, yes, doing PVE content there will be harder.

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Castle i was wondering so does that mean you are looking to change pve missions. say for instance in warburg if you on a team and you grab a science person as of now only you can get the code after you drop him/her off.

instead make it a team win so the team only has too get three codes?

nice soundly like a solid gameing history there about the same as me.

gratz on your dream job

questions

question one: what storyline would you want to pursue

question two: if you where a fantasy creature what would you be

question three: will you be one of the people we can turn to for help with are mission creator or is that more open scource

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So ...

Curiously absent from the announcement is some kinda' mention of The Vault.

Is it still on the radar, or has it been pushed back past I13?

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yes i have been wondering if vault got shafted.............get it..........nm carry on

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Message from Positron
Blueprints are ready
The Architect has been paid
Reveal's on Tuesday

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I'm thinking it will be the announcement about the City Vault.

[/ QUOTE ]That was my first thought too.

Not that I'd be adverse to I13 info, but you know ....

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I'm gonna go with bases.

All you base are belong to us.

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i well speculate after tuesday

sweet thx

the advertseing signs i would like to see my intro or exit on one of thoses.

i dont have a exsample

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Everyone and their dog beat me to the Facebook COH Fan Page.

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i loled btw there you have not seen you much buzy with world building?

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It isn't even a matter of people being able to buy the stuff. Or speak with the wallets. some of us have duties that keep us other places.
I think a great way to handle this has been mentioned above, in the idea of a Costume Expansion Pack. All the costumes that have been available through giveaways etc, in one pay-for-pack. I think it would work out quite well for everyone especially if it is a for good offer, so those who are on fixed incomes can save up to pick up the pack.

Honestly, I know that a major draw of this game is the costume creator, and the PPD Hardsuit has been a major request in Jay's Costume Thread since around pg 40 (thread is at 400s now). I know if Jay did half the things requested in that thread to include in the pack I would pay as much as 30$ for it.

Thanks,
Elvnsword

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i agree lot's of Costume's if jay did just one half of them and put that in a add-on pack i see people like me just gobbling it up.

so far like what i see the mission customization and i read about that a lot so i have notice that one question i do not see is. Will the MCbeta be something we dl load seperate if so does that mean that MC will be bought seperately?

btw good job so far on everthing you have done although i would like to see you kick it up a notch.