Issue 14: Architect Discussion

Clever Devs.

From my understanding, the MA is better than the gtool they currently have. Now they can get upgrades to their own tools by citing demand for improved tools from us players.

I think we will be seeing better Dev created missions as a result of the 'competition' as well.

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Story Arcs I created:

Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!

Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!

Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!

Im gonna make farms.

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The Great Kentini has returned. Behold the crystal ball! All-seeing! All-knowing!

My Five Architect Predictions (Including Three That Will Get Me Flamed)

5) "Challenge" architect missions will be big. Look for long-lived threads in the future titled "Post your X AT's results on Y player's Z architect mission challenge!" Look for all my X ATs to fail miserably.

4) Architect will be slightly more popular than the Arena for playing, once the shiny wears off. Badgers will play, the curious will play, people wanting a "challenge" will play, and people wanting one or two specific rewards will play (until they get the rewards). (Sounds like Arena, eh?) But I don't see any incentive for the general population aside from these specific groups. The rewards just look too stingy. (Fair disclosure: I am not in closed beta. The architect mission rewards may in fact be generous. I have never been to the Moon. The Moon may in fact be green cheese.)

3) Architect will remain popular for a long time for creating missions. Player-created content is a perfect match for the City of Heroes playerbase. Many of whom were drawn here by the game's character generation. So even if nobody but friends and SGmates plays them, they'll still be great fun to make. (See also: one-man SG bases.)

2) The first "Hall of Fame" missions will be ones forumgoers use for challenges, ones people use to grind Architect badges/rewards, and ones commercial farmers use to get fast influence. More players, more thumbs. Once those needs are met, no more missions will be needed to fill those needs, so the second wave of Hall of Fame architect missions will be rocking good content.

1) "My origin, aren't I so awesome" architect missions will be the most annoying new content since "We're Vanguard, aren't we so awesome."

And if you don't like my predictions, well, just copy and paste them in my face if and when they turn out to be incorrect. I'm interested to see how much glue I end up with on my face after this.

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5 - agree
4 - i'm pretty sure i'll play it way more often than regular stuff, just because the content will be endless and i live for new feeling mishes. can't even play 3 papers in a row without getting bored.
3 - of course!
2 - makes sense. people will pass around their own mishes, and mishes deemed perfect for quick rewards. truly good mishes will slowly get bumped up.
1 - i think every person i've talked to plans to do at least one of these. even i do. i hope mine isn't lame.

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Liberty
My 50s:
Hero: Armor Assassin (scrapper), Cross Dresser (scrapper), Surly Seaman (blaster), Defensive End (Tank), Rad Rhino (Cont)
Villain: Beast Infection (Corr), Sweet Zombie Jesus (MM), Milk Weasel (Stalker), Orgullo (MM), Agent Eris (Crab)

I might make an origin arc for my main character, but I doubt I'll publish it. We've been told we only get three arc slots, so I'd rather not use up a slot on personal stories.

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[ QUOTE ]
1) "My origin, aren't I so awesome" architect missions will be the most annoying new content since "We're Vanguard, aren't we so awesome."


[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting that you pair those, Kent... the origin of one of my characters is that she was a Vanguard soldier for five years during (and after) the initial Rikti invasion, and was so traumatized by her perceived failures during her service that Gaussian helped her relocate to a division of the Freedom Corps. So if I do create the arc of her origin, it's not going to paint her as "aren't I awesome", it's more like seeing the difference in perception of what it means to save a single life (for most heroes, if you save even a single life under impossible odds, it's a victory... for her, it was failure because she couldn't save everyone).

But that's just me.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
*wonders how many more free trailers for the game she has to make to qualify for permanent closed beta access*

[/ QUOTE ]
i wonder what makes you think you are entitled to something more than the rest of the playerbase

your videos are pretty good, but they do little to show the features of the new issues in action

[/ QUOTE ]

That's pretty harsh dude

Personally, I think the devs should nurture and sponsor player created advertising and utilities. People who create stuff that supports the game would be on my list of top beta testers, people like Mids.

Oh, as well as good testers of course. They would be my 1st round picks, with community stars in the 2nd round.

Just my 2 cents of course, what do i know

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Crime of Fashion Level 50 Rad/Rad Corrupter
My Toons
My Rad/Rad Corrupters Guide
Mindscape - Reworking

As a writer I tend to not make my characters the main focus of all the power in the cosmos. While I think such stories can be handled creatively (take Superman for example) I feel that it is a pure challenge and very hard to handle. That is not to say it cannot be done and I look forward to seeing the magnificent portraits painted by everyone supporting the MA. Judging by what I've delved through in the RP forums I can say there is quite a talented bunch here and there will be more than a few very well thought out "origin" pieces. I say bring them forth! Let us see the stories you want to weave! I truly look forward to Dark_Respite's for her vids show she has a knack for storytelling and pacing (a very hard thing to master believe it or not.)

Anyway, I'll have to wait for a hopeful beta invite or be in my "Gazebo of Eternal Meditation" whilst awaiting Open Beta. Either way I am eternally patient because I have my own deadlines to meet anyway. A beta invite would be my editor's worst nightmare, but she plays too and has been oddly silent this week. *nudges* Hmmm...this bares further investigation.

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Great.
Maybe this finally means that the i12 OOS bug aka Door Bug (or whatever the DEVs want to call the bug that won't let you move from the spot that you zone in for more than 10 seconds when they system pulls you back to the zone in point by an auto-sync that doesn't work as well as using /sync, getting teleported by someone, or using teleport self).

If that is the case, then I'm excited.

Otherwise, I don't expect any invite to Beta.
My input for bugs isn't appreciated. I bugged this bug in i12 beta almost as soon as I was allowed into the Open beta.
I also bugged the i13 bug where the global friends list is almost immediately replaced by the global channel friends list - every time that the global friend list is opened. This is still on-going as well.
Sure I bugged some other stuff that was fixed, but I could have lived better with a huge hole in Pork Oakes than either one of these bugs.

I was pretty excited about the mission Architect but the lack of support on this i12 issue is totally stuck in my craw at this point. (The on-going i13 bugs aren't helping to calm me any either).

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[ QUOTE ]
1) "My origin, aren't I so awesome" architect missions will be the most annoying new content since "We're Vanguard, aren't we so awesome."

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, to be fair, I'd take someone's Mary Sue arc over a lot of the old blue side content. The fact that it's a very ego-focused story doesn't change the fact that it's at least a story.

But I think that we're going to see a lot of these, yes.

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@Mindshadow

Protecting the super secret City of Gyros recipe is not a Mary Sue arc

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If we are calling Character Background Story Arcs, *Origin*, then yes, there are sure to be many. I plan one myself, that covers two of my toons.

There are two different ways these can go:

1) "My Character is the mosty awesome force in the universe!"

Anyone setting their toon up as a "Perfect" example of what a Hero/Villain should be, because the character has absolutlely no flaws/morals will have a hard time getting me to finish their Story Arc. The same with Characters set up as Contacts, that are intentionally written to be Beligerent, Insulting, Holier-than thou, the best thing that walked the earth. I have little patience when confronted with Conceit, Egotistical, stuck on themselves people.

2) Background Story Arcs that are written with alot of thought, care and planning.

These will be where I hang out. Everybody has flaws, and so would our Heroes/Villains. Example: Wolverine of the X-Men; his animal Rage, lack of discipline, and almost suicidal willingness to use deadly force are his biggest rubs with the rest of his team. He smokes, cusses, is deliberately disrespectful to authority, also flaws. However, his capacity to love and the depths of his compassion towards the younger team members are very heroic qualities. He'd die before he saw Kitty Pride or others come to harm. There are other traits I'm sure, but that is off the top of my head.

The mix of flaws balanced with the potential for good makes a hero believable, and thus more interesting. Villains would be a little more difficult to write, as you have to set their evil ruthlessness against some Moral quirk, or failing of some other type.

Either way, there will be alot of good ones, and their will most likely be alot more bad ones.

The trick will be to sift through them to find the ones worth your time.

IMHO

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Black-Strike: lvl 50 AR/Dark Corruptor
Brutally Beautiful: lvl 50 BA/Inv Brute
Seared Earth: lvl 50 EC/EA Dominator
Yashi Onuku: lvl 50 Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker
Death-Widow: lvl 50 Night Widow

What concerns me, is the mention of Story Arcs created around/about SG/VG's.

I personally think that these should be SG/VG exclusive, and tie in to the Mission Computer in the Base.

I see the same thing happening with the SG/VG thing as with the Background Story thing. (see post above).

I truly want to write Story Arcs around my Vg, but, I think it should be VG exclusive. Only the members should be able to access them.

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Black-Strike: lvl 50 AR/Dark Corruptor
Brutally Beautiful: lvl 50 BA/Inv Brute
Seared Earth: lvl 50 EC/EA Dominator
Yashi Onuku: lvl 50 Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker
Death-Widow: lvl 50 Night Widow

Ok, why announce Beta and get peoples hopes up when you havent even sent out invites?

A bunch of VEts i know that have been on every closed beta since i1 say they havent gotten one.

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Does veteran status even affect one's chances of getting a beta invite, and if so at which level does it factor in?

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[ QUOTE ]
Does veteran status even affect one's chances of getting a beta invite, and if so at which level does it factor in?

[/ QUOTE ]

I never got an invite for i13, and didn't go in until Open Beta.

So there isn't some magic number to get into Beta.

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[ QUOTE ]
Does veteran status even affect one's chances of getting a beta invite, and if so at which level does it factor in?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not that I'm aware. I particapated in the CBs for Issued 9-11 then never got a peep of an invite for 12 and 13. After doing a fair amount of reading, I have a working theory that they cycle through CBs invite in 3-issue blocks. In other words, I was in the CB for issue 11 so I won't be invited to particapate in another CB until I15 at the earliest. I'm not 100% sure about this, but from what I've gathered this is how it works.

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I think it basically boils down to this:

The Devs obviously have -some- system for determining who gets in each closed beta and who doesn't. But it was made pretty clear that its workings are something they will NEVER tell us based on the simple theory that if we knew how the system worked then we'd all bend over backwards to try to manipulate it to increase our chances.

And you can rest assured that they probably tinker with the exact requirements to be subtly different for each closed beta. Based on my random experience of which closed betas I have or haven't been in so far I couldn't really predict if I'd be in any future ones or not at this point. Case in point I also know of people who are pretty much in every one of them AND I also know of other people who hardly get into any of them. *shrugs*

Bottomline Vet status is one factor, but it's very likely only one of many they consider.

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Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀

[ QUOTE ]
What concerns me, is the mention of Story Arcs created around/about SG/VG's.

I personally think that these should be SG/VG exclusive, and tie in to the Mission Computer in the Base.

I see the same thing happening with the SG/VG thing as with the Background Story thing. (see post above).

I truly want to write Story Arcs around my Vg, but, I think it should be VG exclusive. Only the members should be able to access them.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, you don't have to publish the mission. From what we know (mostly from HeroCon), you can have an unlimited number of unpublished story arcs saved on your computer and can play them without publishing them. So for SG/VS story arcs, just pass the saved file around your group and any of them can play it at any time. Or you can invite some SG buddies to a team and "test" one of those arcs.

You can tell a lot of personal and SG-related stories that way.

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What concerns me, is the mention of Story Arcs created around/about SG/VG's.

I personally think that these should be SG/VG exclusive, and tie in to the Mission Computer in the Base.

I see the same thing happening with the SG/VG thing as with the Background Story thing. (see post above).

I truly want to write Story Arcs around my Vg, but, I think it should be VG exclusive. Only the members should be able to access them.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, you don't have to publish the mission. From what we know (mostly from HeroCon), you can have an unlimited number of unpublished story arcs saved on your computer and can play them without publishing them. So for SG/VS story arcs, just pass the saved file around your group and any of them can play it at any time. Or you can invite some SG buddies to a team and "test" one of those arcs.

You can tell a lot of personal and SG-related stories that way.

[/ QUOTE ] yeah, whats the point of having it only in your sg? some people aren't in a sgso they wouldnt be able to share the missions. Teaming up and playing unpublished missions is most likely what will happen.

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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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[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well maybe not. I could see the potential for SG recruitment as a standardized aptitude test. As in how well the potential member plays and if that play style matches the group.

It could also provide a fairly useful gauge if the recruit could get along with the existing members.

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[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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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@Eisenzahn
GW2 - Melchior.2135
AIM - Euroclydon23
Email - scorpany@yahoo.com or <sameasmyAIM>@aol.com (for the sheer novelty of an almost 20 year old email address that hasn't been overwhelmed by spambots yet)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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... &lt;NPC made to look and speak like the SG leader&gt;: "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.

[/ QUOTE ]

i was thinking along the same lines

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sincerly yours:
Bzald of TopTen

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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... &lt;NPC made to look and speak like the SG leader&gt;: "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.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm definitely hoping for Architect access from within an SG base, but somehow, I think I'm wishing in vain....

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All that is planned fails. All that is born dies.
All that is built crumbles. This will always be true.

But memories remain, And that is beautiful.