Discussion: Issue 14: Mission Architect - FAQ
By
8_Ball,
Posted on: 2009-02-26 13:02 in Developers' Corner
A few questions:
* On the critter creator: can we apply nifty back items like Goldbricker jetpacks and Malta gear to our custom critters?
* Patrols? Can we do this? And if so can we adjust how many spawns will become patrols. i.e. there is a Striga map filled only with Council Mech Men and a majority of them are on patrol. Meanwhile, on most maps with patrols, it usually seems to be only two or three spawns roaming. And can we set Patrol dialogue?
* Ice maps? Will there be a way to use, unlock or purchase any wintery maps, i.e. the Snaptooth holiday map.
* Compound maps? One Faultline mission takes us through the sewers and continues on an exterior instance in Faultline. Will we have the ability to string together maps like this with interior doors? Is there a plan or hope for this feature in the future if it doesn't currently exist?
* New maps? Any new maps or tile sets coming with this issue specifically for telling new and unique stories? i.e. something to fill a few holes in what is available--like a generic jungle, desert or arctic map with the option to have either an Arachnos Flyer or Longbow Helicopter as the door in and out of the map? (thinking about this for storytelling: i.e. "You've tracked Jungle Scorpion Evildude to his layer in the Panamanian jungle. We've chartered a special flight with Longbow to get you there. Hurry before he escapes!" or an arc that could begin with an innocent jungle recon mission, sort of like something out of the Predator movies...)
And a bit of feedback:
Getting more and more excited about this reading Pohsyb's comments here. 
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* On the critter creator: can we apply nifty back items like Goldbricker jetpacks and Malta gear to our custom critters?
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That one was answered earlier in the thread- custom critters (... cursed childhood habits, I keep wanting to write that 'kustom kritters') are made with exactly the same pieces as player characters.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
So the characters in my superhero virtual reality game can play a superhero virtual reality game... <head esplodes>
"Destiny's powerful hand has made the bed of my future, and it's up to me to lie in it. I am destined to be a superhero. To right wrongs, and to pound two-fisted justice into the hearts of evildoers everywhere." -- The Tick
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1. Create a huge, flat, wide open map.
2. Create a custom minion with no attacks, an HP debuff, vulnerability to all damage types (both Def and Res), and then make them rez like freakshow.
3. Commence cleaning up.
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Highly doubt this is possible, actually i would say its impossible.
Hopefully there will be a feature that'll determine the difficulty level of custom mobs and raise/lower the xp/inf rate accordingly.
Unless they got it so that all custom mobs give lower than average xp i suppose.
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* On the critter creator: can we apply nifty back items like Goldbricker jetpacks and Malta gear to our custom critters?
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That one was answered earlier in the thread- custom critters (... cursed childhood habits, I keep wanting to write that 'kustom kritters') are made with exactly the same pieces as player characters.
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Thanks for answering. Having trouble keeping up with this flood of information...
...I wonder if this means an extended palette of back details is on the to do list at this point? *ponder*
Any release date yet?
50 Tweeky SS/FA
50 xTweeks Fire/Kin
50 Sarosha Son/Rad
50 Electrifi Elec/SA
50 Tweekys Rage SS/WP
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I'm surprised no one has picked up on this:
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5. Can you talk more about Dev Choice vs. Hall of Fame?
...
3. We also have a third tier of stories which we will talk about at a later date.
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PURE BASELESS RAMPANT SPECULATION FOLLOWS (i.e. the usual)
Maybe some missions will be ... real? In some sense of the word or another. 
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I've seen more than one mention, including by a redname (I think it was Pohsyb, but I'm not sure), that stories that they deem appropriate will become part of the actual canon. I expect that's the "third tier".
Will MA have a "asterick" system like Ouroboros that marks the arcs that you have already done?
If so, by character or by account?
Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes. - Sweet_Sarah
BOYCOTT NCSoft (on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/517513781597443/
Governments have fallen to the power of social media. Gaming companies can too.
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So the characters in my superhero virtual reality game can play a superhero virtual reality game... <head esplodes>
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Can you make a mission, where your character has to make a mission?
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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Could we get some details about what will be able to be purchased?
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Not yet.
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I just want to say, that I am very disappointed in this answer. (Not on your part pohsyb, I understand answering that question probably wasn't up to you, and the amount of questions you answered in this thread was pretty amazing)
This is the second issue in a row, where there have been major changes that have an obvious impact on the market, where I have sat and watched the market react to those changes while they were still in Closed Beta. (As I documented here two days ago.)
What is so special about this information, that it can't be released to everyone who likes to play the market, and not just people who are either in the Closed Beta or getting information from it?
I-13 produced a noticable spike in Purple prices when it went into Closed. Now I've watched Purple recipes that were headed down in price after the frenzy of double xp weekend, shoot back up and make new all-time highs right after the I-14 Closed Beta starts. And to no surprise, we now get information that seems to lead in the direction of less net Recipe production in Pool A, and people speculating just like they did before I-13.
I wish the Devs would take another look at their policy on this. For a long time we were told that because things might change, that it was better to not release this kind of stuff. I would ask that a small exception be made for market-related information. Because, while things may change, I have yet to see an example related to the market where the changes would have hurt the people who speculated based on Closed Beta information.
Also, your playerbase is by and large pretty mature. Telling everyone "Yes, you will be able to buy Pool A,BC,D,E and Purple Recipes as well as Randoms at the Ticket Vendor", and then at some later date deciding you don't want C and D in there, wouldn't cause the kind of chaos you seem to think it would. Especially if you just plainly stated that you use that information at your own risk, that it could change, many of us are adults here and can quite easily deal with that.
For one, I'd rather be on a level playing field when it comes to the people I compete with at the market, even if it means following them off the wrong cliff, than to sit here in the dark, while other people inflate their Inf holdings at everyone else's expense. I understand that some might see it as a minor point, that is fine, that is pretty much how I might see any argument involving badges. What is a minor point to some, is an intergral part of the game to others. People gaming the system to gain an advantage at the market, spoils the mini-game that I enjoy, for me.
As with the entirity of life, the universe and everything, YMMV.
(but will tend to hover around 42 
)
I'm curious about something with the MA, now granted this will most likely be answered in a couple weeks when the open beta starts, but that's never stopped me before.
Will missions you create in MA simply be the missions themselves or can they be the full scenario? Lemme explain my question a bit. In the game. you get a mission from a contact, then move to the mission and then enter the mission map through a door of some sort (With the excepton of hunt missions). When we make a mission in the MA, will be be making JUST the mission? Or do we actually write the dialoge for a Contact and everything else?
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[Disclaimer]
I only read Pohsyb's posts (linked from teh Dev Digest page), and no, i'm not reading through 220 pages, so this may or may not have been asked already.
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So, they're allowing XP and Inf. Rewards for mobs killed in custom missions? Apparently, the idea of PL'ing must not matter to the Devs anymore.
I can see it now: not only will someone rez the "Defeat Dreck" mission AND the Werewolf farms from way back when . Now we won't even need bridges to do it... it'll be plenty fast just to SK the lowbie yourself, and
I guarantee someone will combine the two concepts, and take it even further:
1. Create a huge, flat, wide open map.
2. Create a custom minion with no attacks, an HP debuff, vulnerability to all damage types (both Def and Res), and then make them rez like freakshow.
3. Commence cleaning up.
We'll have fire blasters one-shotting huge mobs (put loads of spawn points in, very close together) with a single shot of Fireball, meaning they can run it from level 2 on... just creating a new mission each time they outlevel one of the old ones... and they won't need to be reset either, since they can just be quit and restarted, or just finished and restarted. Also, they can bring at least one friend along who might not have a low-level AoE attack, SK them, and PL them while they're at it.
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There is exactly one part of that which has not been stated as impossible.
We canNOT make our own maps.
We canNOT set the spawn points on maps, preexisting or otherwise.
We canNOT assign (as far as I know) single specific powers to a critter.
We canNOT (as far as I know) assign buffs or debuffs to a critter.
Cleaning up? Oh, yes. We can do that.
she who needs no mic
"You couldn't be more wrong if you were upended in a vat full of toxic wrong by Captain Wrong and his Wrongbots and earned a permanent inherent power called Aura of Wrong."-Lady_Sadako
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Or do we actually write the dialogue for a Contact and everything else?
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Yes.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
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Too much freedom. Since where only getting the illusion of "build and create". And in turn not not becoming our own GM's, in our own Missions. Its nice to have customizable missions but, if your going to attempt to give us real freedom, We should have GM power in OUR own missions. Why restrict our own mission power?.
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....huh?
We're getting custom missions. Where we can create custom AV/Heroes. And custom villain and hero groups, with custom minions, custom lieutenants, custom bosses, custom dialogue, custom objectives, betrayals by the people who you're rescuing, adjustable names, flavor text, powers and abilities.
What in God's name do you need to feel like you're being given "GM power?" The I-Win command? The ability to have rocks fall and kill all the players in your game? A function that makes you lattes and serves you cheetos every time someone rates your story arc four stars or above?
Seriously. Dude.
[/ QUOTE ]I've seen others express the same thing. They want to be able to alter the mission in real time, as people are playing it. They want to be able to make it an actual, real-time GM vs. Players RPG. Of course, how this would work if the GM player isn't on, I have no idea.
I gotta admit, though, even across all the threads, there's been very little Whine and Doom.
I've gone from "meh" to actual interest in this. Not to create my own stories, but to see what other people put up.
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What happens to arcs if the player who created them goes inactive?
Can trial accounts use the MA? ( Better not... )
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I'm still on my first cup of coffee, and haven't been able to kindle the CT reactor yet this morning, so apologies if it's obvious to everyone but me, but what am I missing? What's the problem with letting trial accounts use the MA?
(qr)
I have a question for if the devs come back to this thread. For the mission search interface, will we be able to make a "Favorites" list? ie. I find an arc I really like, and rather than having to remember it's name or ID or something, I can just click a button and add it to my favorites, so that I can go back and play it at any time without needing to search for it? (As long as it still exists, anyway)
Because I think that would be nifty.
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What happens to arcs if the player who created them goes inactive?
Can trial accounts use the MA? ( Better not... )
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I'm still on my first cup of coffee, and haven't been able to kindle the CT reactor yet this morning, so apologies if it's obvious to everyone but me, but what am I missing? What's the problem with letting trial accounts use the MA?
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Freak Slicer: Oh no! It's Captain Dynamic!
Tank Smasher: Don't worry! We'll mop the floor with him! He can't afford all the best enhancements like he could if he'd only bought 10 million influence from www.stupidgoldsellingwebsite.com for only $10!
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What happens to arcs if the player who created them goes inactive?
Can trial accounts use the MA? ( Better not... )
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I'm still on my first cup of coffee, and haven't been able to kindle the CT reactor yet this morning, so apologies if it's obvious to everyone but me, but what am I missing? What's the problem with letting trial accounts use the MA?
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Trial accounts should not be allowed to rate missions as this could be exploited. I have no problem with trial accounts doing missions though.
@Blood Beret(2)Twitter
I am a bad speeler, use poorer grammar, and am a frequent typoist.
MA ArcID: 1197
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. Winston Churchill
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What happens to arcs if the player who created them goes inactive?
Can trial accounts use the MA? ( Better not... )
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I'm still on my first cup of coffee, and haven't been able to kindle the CT reactor yet this morning, so apologies if it's obvious to everyone but me, but what am I missing? What's the problem with letting trial accounts use the MA?
[/ QUOTE ]Well, obviously if Trial accounts have access to the MA, they might enjoy the system too much and become paying subscribers. And we wouldn't want that.
Ok, seriously though, there's a potential for people to make a mass of trial accounts, run them through an arc, and either upvote/downvote it with each one. Since you can only vote on each arc once per account, that would be the most obvious work-around.
A good solution would be a restriction on rating missions. So Trial accounts can play MA missions (and maybe even make them, because what's the harm in that? For the devs to decide, I guess), but not allow them to rate missions. That way they can still enjoy what is potentially the biggest addition the game will ever see, while still not abusing it.
For marketing purposes advertising one of the rewards for going to full paying being... "Access the MA, a fully integrated player created mission system where you can devise your own heroic/villainous career" is too sweet for them to pass up.
That would be my guess at least.
OK, they first mentioned this months ago, I outlined my pure genius story arc idea to a friend in an e-mail, now I can't find the e-mail and am no longer a genius. Very sad. I guess I'll have to spew some mindless trash and hope people like it.
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Let me try again: Is the whole Mission Architect a big virtual reality?
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Oh well its [REDACTED] there there is [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] (^_^)b
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Pwnd!
Well, I guess I'll have to wait for Open Beta to find out
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to read all of the posts. I want to know if we are getting more costume options with I14 so that we can make even more original looking advesaries in the MA?
Also, I really want some new costume options -- GREEDY, GREEDY, WANT!
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Can a "published" arc be edited by the owner? If so, does the arc's rating and status get reset?
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Yes, its called a re-publish and it will preserve ratings info.
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
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Can we force the player to find the mission entrance?
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Use a mayhem / safequard map or like the Thorn Island one. Then the doors could possibly lead to other areas.
@Blood Beret(2)Twitter
I am a bad speeler, use poorer grammar, and am a frequent typoist.
MA ArcID: 1197
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. Winston Churchill