Discussion: Issue 14: Mission Architect - FAQ
By
8_Ball,
Posted on: 2009-02-26 13:02 in Developers' Corner
question.
will we only be able to include signature heroes and villains in our missions that players have already seen in action?
by this, i'm talking about members of vanguard that we haven't seen in action already like the dark watcher, borea, serpent drummer, and all them
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Will players have to complete arcs before they are able to rate them (please, please, to make it harder to grief or game the system).
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If they have to complete them before rating them, how do they give low ratings to ones that can't be beaten?
(See your previous post for an example of when they'd want to do this.)
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You do not need to complete the arc to rate it. If you start an arc and find that the creator put in random characters into all the text fields, and there are no mission goals written for you, you can 1 star it immediately and exit and get on with doing something fun.
Oh.
And you can't publish a mission that can't be "beaten". It might be hard, but the error checking makes sure that whatever you make is possible to complete.
Positron
Follow me on Twitter
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Looking better all the time but I didn't see an answer on the statement below. (I could have missed it, lots of posts!)
At what level s the MA useable?
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City of Heroes
Issue 14: Architect
snip......
At the high level we allow you to create your own stories and share them with others in the game.
snip.......
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(Yes, not everyone has a level 50. I played too many other games over the years!)
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You can create stories and play them as early as level 1.
Positron
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Can you make Fed Ex missions as part of your story arc? Example:
Mission 4: Go talk to Statesman in Independence Port.
??
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
Re: Badges, and why they don't count
This Mission Architect primary purpose is for telling stories. We do not want people to spend days making a great story only to find it shuffled into a list of missions with titles like "Get your Rikti Monkey badge here", "10 badges in 5 minutes", "Down on the AV Farm", etc. etc.
That said there are a lot of badges available to earn in Mission Architect. A good chunk of them are only in "test mode", so if you REALLY just want to farm those badges, you don't need to publish the mission (actually you CAN'T publish the mission) in order to earn it.
Re: Ratings
Yes, your rating is preserved when you re-publish a mission. This allows for an author to fix a typo without worrying about losing his 5 star rating.
HOWEVER.
The threshold for "pull for inappropriate content" IS reset. So if you make a 5 star mission arc, pull it, and change every text field into random entries from Urban Dictionary, it will get pulled down just as fast as a brand new arc. Probably faster, since it has greater exposure. Oh and you'll probably get banned for griefing too.
Re: Unrated stuff
I believe there are badges for rating unrated arcs, or arcs with a low amount of ratings, to encourage people to play them and rate them. I need to double check if these made it into the feature complete feature list.
Re: Dev Choice Badge
Expect to see a LOT more Dev Choice badges than Bug Hunter badges. We give out 10 or so BH badges a year. We expect to be Dev Choice-ing a LOT more arcs than that.
Re: Ticket System
This system is in place so that we can better control the non-XP, non-Inf. rewards that are handed out by the system. Since the Architect determines a lot of the details of the mission, this puts a great amount of control over drops into their hands. With tickets, we can set a threshold that is simply unsurpassable.
That said, we want the ticket system to mirror in quality and quantity of reward as compared to the bulk of the normal game as much as possible. The idea being that if you levelled a character from 1 to 50 exclusively in Mission Architect, you won't be gimped or OP as compared to a level 50 that never touched the system.
Re: Exploitive Behavior
Now, I am not going to say we've covered EVERY edge case, but we've covered every edge case we could think up. Suffice it to say that if you have read everything here and have a "great idea on how to break the system", chances are we've thought of it and made it impossible.
We've added a TON more datamining hooks exclusively for Mission Architect as well, so we can easily see spikes in aberrant behavior. Spikes point us to exploits, which points us to log files, which reveal the identities of exploiters. So if you find a really big exploit in the system, I'd encourage you to PM me or another Dev and try to get your Bug Hunter badge, as the alternative is not pretty.
Positron
Follow me on Twitter
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Re: Ticket System
This system is in place so that we can better control the non-XP, non-Inf. rewards that are handed out by the system. Since the Architect determines a lot of the details of the mission, this puts a great amount of control over drops into their hands. With tickets, we can set a threshold that is simply unsurpassable.
That said, we want the ticket system to mirror in quality and quantity of reward as compared to the bulk of the normal game as much as possible. The idea being that if you levelled a character from 1 to 50 exclusively in Mission Architect, you won't be gimped or OP as compared to a level 50 that never touched the system.
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I'd like to know if there is a specific plan in place to deal with unintended consequences for the Market if Tickets become a currency that people desire more than Inf? By having the property of being able to get you selectable rewards, as well as other items that would have previously not been droppable by an enemy defeats in the normal random system in place for in-game content, it seems as if the potential is there to impact Pool A,B and Salvage production, even if only a relatively small percentage of the population shifts their earning preference.
And second, I know you can't promise us anything, but is there any intention of implementing the Ticket system game-wide, or can we expect that playing regular missions will still use the same reward system it always has, or at least that is the intention?
Thanks for answering questions on a Saturday Posi, you rock!
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Can you make Fed Ex missions as part of your story arc? Example:
Mission 4: Go talk to Statesman in Independence Port.
??
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I hope not. They're not so bad when you're running solo, but nothing destroys team cohesion more than these time-wasting run-around missions (except maybe serial team wipes).
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So if you find a really big exploit in the system, I'd encourage you to PM me or another Dev and try to get your Bug Hunter badge, as the alternative is not pretty.
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<cue ominous music>
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
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Can you make Fed Ex missions as part of your story arc? Example:
Mission 4: Go talk to Statesman in Independence Port.
??
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I hope not. They're not so bad when you're running solo, but nothing destroys team cohesion more than these time-wasting run-around missions (except maybe serial team wipes).
[/ QUOTE ]I agree that Fed Ex missions can be a pain at times, and I feel that they are over-used in a lot of the older content. However, from a story-telling perspective they can make a lot of sense.
Unfortunately, I suspect that the game-dynamic of a sort of "holodeck" will mean that we transition from one mission to next without leaving the building. I hope I'm wrong, as one of my plots requires delivering something to the MAGI vault before it "wakes up", but that's the way it seems to me so far.
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We've added a TON more datamining hooks exclusively for Mission Architect as well, so we can easily see spikes in aberrant behavior. Spikes point us to exploits, which points us to log files, which reveal the identities of exploiters. So if you find a really big exploit in the system, I'd encourage you to PM me or another Dev and try to get your Bug Hunter badge, as the alternative is not pretty.
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I really realy really don't like the wording here. I wonder just what is considered an expliot. You called running KHTF once every three hours an expliot so I wondering what "exactly" is meant here by expliot?
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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We've added a TON more datamining hooks exclusively for Mission Architect as well, so we can easily see spikes in aberrant behavior. Spikes point us to exploits, which points us to log files, which reveal the identities of exploiters. So if you find a really big exploit in the system, I'd encourage you to PM me or another Dev and try to get your Bug Hunter badge, as the alternative is not pretty.
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I really realy really don't like the wording here. I wonder just what is considered an expliot. You called running KHTF once every three hours an expliot so I wondering what "exactly" is meant here by expliot?
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How can they be more specific? An exploit by definition is gaming the system in a way they didn't anticipate. Explain to me how they can give you details on something they're not anticipating?
They're not going to play "gotcha" and ban folks who are paying money that ends up paying for their salaries just to be nasty. I think exploits will be pretty obvious to those doing them.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
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We've added a TON more datamining hooks exclusively for Mission Architect as well, so we can easily see spikes in aberrant behavior. Spikes point us to exploits, which points us to log files, which reveal the identities of exploiters. So if you find a really big exploit in the system, I'd encourage you to PM me or another Dev and try to get your Bug Hunter badge, as the alternative is not pretty.
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I really realy really don't like the wording here. I wonder just what is considered an expliot. You called running KHTF once every three hours an expliot so I wondering what "exactly" is meant here by expliot?
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If your personal moral compass flip flops or even wavers a little while doing something in the game that is obvious to you is not intended behavior, it's probably an exploit.
Positron
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Positron, I am a little concerned about the possible rate griefing involved with being able to rate an arc that hasn't been played. Especially when there are badges involved in rating unrated arcs or ones that don't have many ratings. A lot of people will probably get their badges simply by going down the line of unrated arcs, slapping a 1 star rating on them, and getting their badge in the process. I've seen rating systems on web-published content experience things like that, and that's WITHOUT the enticing badge. Please reconsider allowing someone to rate an unfinished arc.
*EDIT* Been here since CoH beta, and this is the first time I've posted after a redname. 
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Positron, I am a little concerned about the possible rate griefing involved with being able to rate an arc that hasn't been played. Especially when there are badges involved in rating unrated arcs or ones that don't have many ratings. A lot of people will probably get their badges simply by going down the line of unrated arcs, slapping a 1 star rating on them, and getting their badge in the process. I've seen rating systems on web-published content experience things like that, and that's WITHOUT the enticing badge. Please reconsider allowing someone to rate an unfinished arc.
*EDIT* Been here since CoH beta, and this is the first time I've posted after a redname.
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I'm willing to listen to ideas on how truly horrible content can get rated without having to endure all of it.
Positron
Follow me on Twitter
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Positron, I am a little concerned about the possible rate griefing involved with being able to rate an arc that hasn't been played. Especially when there are badges involved in rating unrated arcs or ones that don't have many ratings. A lot of people will probably get their badges simply by going down the line of unrated arcs, slapping a 1 star rating on them, and getting their badge in the process. I've seen rating systems on web-published content experience things like that, and that's WITHOUT the enticing badge. Please reconsider allowing someone to rate an unfinished arc.
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Lots of folks are going to publish arcs that are simply painful to play, and we shouldn't be forced to play the entire thing in order to rate it. Instead, let's see if rating griefing is a real problem before putting in draconian measures. It's just as likely if someone wants to get a badge for rating missions that they'll 3 star or 5 star missions anyway. The devs have already told us that one of the things the system will do is flag players who 1-star lots of missions.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
Maybe have some sort of threshold, a certain amount of the mission that has to be played in order to rate it, similar to how you have to be on a mission for so long to get the end of mission bonus. The player should at the VERY least START the first mission.
Ultimately, I don't think someone should even be rating an obviously bad mission to begin with. I'd rather just let it sink to the bottom of the unrated mission list, than for people with genuinely good content being stomped down by griefers.
Oh! Better idea... Is there any way you can give certain ratings more 'weight' than others? If someone rates a mission without playing it, it would have a low weight against the total rating, while someone who completes it has a greater effect on the overall rating. What do you think?
*EDIT* This could count more towards the badge, too, in some way.
I thought of a question! With so many account wide unlockables in the MA, are the tickets going to be account wide/tradable? If some of the more awesome unlockables are pricey, it might be difficult for someone who doesn't stick to one alt to unlock them.
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)
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Oh! Better idea... Is there any way you can give certain ratings more 'weight' than others? If someone rates a mission without playing it, it would have a low weight against the total rating, while someone who completes it has a greater effect on the overall rating. What do you think?
*EDIT* This could count more towards the badge, too, in some way.
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That's a reasonable idea. Someone who rates an arc after playing half of the first mission shouldn't have an equal vote compared to the person who played all the missions in the arc.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
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I thought of a question! With so many account wide unlockables in the MA, are the tickets going to be account wide/tradable? If some of the more awesome unlockables are pricey, it might be difficult for someone who doesn't stick to one alt to unlock them.
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When people play your arcs, tickets earned that way go into a pool.
You can then claim tickets out of that pool onto any character.
Positron
Follow me on Twitter
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Oh! Better idea... Is there any way you can give certain ratings more 'weight' than others? If someone rates a mission without playing it, it would have a low weight against the total rating, while someone who completes it has a greater effect on the overall rating. What do you think?
*EDIT* This could count more towards the badge, too, in some way.
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That's a reasonable idea. Someone who rates an arc after playing half of the first mission shouldn't have an equal vote compared to the person who played all the missions in the arc.
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But in the case of "Mission That's Virtually Impossible" you'd get a bunch of low-weighted 1-stars from people who couldn't finish it, and a bunch of heavily-weighted 5-stars from the few who could finish it and enjoyed the challenge.
Or you'd get a mission so annoying that nobody would ever complete it except the mission designer and his friends, who all 5-star it.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but there are ways to game virtually every rating system.
Hi Positron, thanks for answering some questions on a Saturday.
Could you just talk briefly about how the Powers for custom critters will work? Do we get to say what powers from the powersets each critter will use? or, is the selection determined by the critter type (i.e. something like, Minion critters will only use the first few powers in the set, AVs will use the full powerset)
Always remember, we were Heroes.
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Hi Positron, thanks for answering some questions on a Saturday.
Could you just talk briefly about how the Powers for custom critters will work? Do we get to say what powers from the powersets each critter will use? or, is the selection determined by the critter type (i.e. something like, Minion critters will only use the first few powers in the set, AVs will use the full powerset)
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Can't talk about the exact-exact specifics just yet.
Positron
Follow me on Twitter
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I thought of a question! With so many account wide unlockables in the MA, are the tickets going to be account wide/tradable? If some of the more awesome unlockables are pricey, it might be difficult for someone who doesn't stick to one alt to unlock them.
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When people play your arcs, tickets earned that way go into a pool.
You can then claim tickets out of that pool onto any character.
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Question:
Can you redo Reward Merits that way? It'd be helpful for people who play alot of alts and never accumulate many merits on any one character.
EDIT: Also, first after Redname. 
Current Published Arcs
#1 "Too Drunk to be Alcoholic" Arc #48942
#2 "To Slay Sleeping Dragons" Arc #111486
#3 "Stop Calling Me"
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Can we please get a list of the "bad words"?
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I have it on good authority that Ms. Liberty has petioned to have the nickname "Side-Chick" placed on the banned list...