Discussion: Issue 14: Mission Architect - FAQ

Oh, one other question I don't remember being answered....

...what's the Day Job for logging out in Architect Entertainment?

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Oh, one other question I don't remember being answered....

...what's the Day Job for logging out in Architect Entertainment?

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Probably, um... Architect .

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Okay, point.

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i've read thrugh most of the thread andmight have missed it. Will there be an in game comment part to the MA so either praise, scorn or suggestions can be directed toward the arc creator?

[/ QUOTE ]We seem to still be waiting for a redname to "comment" on comments.

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The problem is that sometimes it really is clear the mission is an absolute turd from minute one.

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And you should be able to one-star it and drop the arc.

The thing is, if it really is that bad? Most of the ratings will be from people who saw the first bit, didn't like it, one-starred it and dropped the arc. And that means that even if they only counted 1/4 to 1/5 (say) what a person who played the whole arc counted as, the volume would more than make up for it.

[/ QUOTE ]And if the creator has nothing in the mission text or anywhere else to indicate there's a good reason to persevere, then they have indeed created a 1-star arc. Assuming we can also leave comments, the comments will make it very clear why the arc is getting 1-starred.

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Oh, one other question I don't remember being answered....

...what's the Day Job for logging out in Architect Entertainment?

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Probably, um... Architect .

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According to City of Data, logging out at Architect Entertainment will give you 1 ticket for completing every mission architect mission and 2 tickets when you have the badge. Getting the Master Architect badge grants you the Remote Interface Terminal which allows you to enter the MA from anywhere. Although there could be a good chance that it is similar to Field Crafter where you need to get a ton of MA badges to get the accolade for it and the day job accolade for Architect is something else entirely.

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The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.

the costume creator hooked me to this game. I enjoy building and creating. The SuperGroup Bases opened up a new door, and I let loose my creativity and created a phenomenal base. Then the SG Base stacking tool was allowed and I took my base architect creativity to levels most online players haven't seen or know is possible.

(I have a 4 story building built within my base - top floor is a penthouse apartment, 3rd is small apartments, 2nd is offices, 1st is like a convention setup... with a stairwell to get to all 4 floors - if i could have made an elevator, i would have)

But this new Mission Architect has gotten me unbelievably stoked. I can't wait till it goes live! From day 1, I created a Story Arc with my main characters. With CoV, it opened the door to expand that Arc. Later it manifested in different ways and gave me my most enjoyable characters. Now with the Mission Architect, I can bring that Story Arc to life and actually play my own characters as AVs. I can't wait!

And for all those out there that had hoped for the doppleganger missions talked about way back when, now is your chance!


Brigg

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AKA: Ath BS/SD Brute (Hero)

"The Fall and Rise of Athanatos" Arc ID: 521712

Outcast Cooler - "Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't."

The reader never owes it to the author to finish the book. The author owes it to the reader to keep them up till three in the morning because they can't put the book down. I've had books I never finished, that I am perfectly willing to dismiss as trash. I've walked out on movies as early as fifteen minutes in. If you ask, I can tell you why I set the book aside and moved on, but I don't owe it to the author to finish the work just to make sure it doesn't get better. If your story can't glue the reader to the page they leave dissatisfied, and your reputation suffers for it -- quite rightly, since you have offered to entertain them, and failed.

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The reader never owes it to the author to finish the book. The author owes it to the reader to keep them up till three in the morning because they can't put the book down. I've had books I never finished, that I am perfectly willing to dismiss as trash. I've walked out on movies as early as fifteen minutes in. If you ask, I can tell you why I set the book aside and moved on, but I don't owe it to the author to finish the work just to make sure it doesn't get better. If your story can't glue the reader to the page they leave dissatisfied, and your reputation suffers for it -- quite rightly, since you have offered to entertain them, and failed.

[/ QUOTE ]^ This. Honto desu!

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There's a great book on writing called 'Beginnings, Middles, and Ends' which talks about the most important thing in a book. The beginning. And the middle. And the end.

The first most important thing is the first page. Or even the first line.

Because unless you are super famous, if that page (or line) doesn't immediately grab the reader by the throat, chances are you're not getting them to page 2.

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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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Thats how Merits should be. On redside and Blueside.

Please consider.

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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.

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Not that I don't believe you, but once this goes to Open Beta, I intend to attack the MA with hammer, drill, and demon posessed rubber duckies until I prove you wrong. It's one of the aspects of MA that I've been planning to go after as soon as I can.


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Don't you think that at least some of the closed beta testers are already trying to do this?

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I'm quite certain it will be possible to make a mission where you're guaranteed to fail. Making a mission that cannot be completed, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

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So you're saying "escort Cardboard Box to safety" is probably out of the question?

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That's an clicklie or blow up thingie. I doubt the MA will allow you pick an object as a hostage. Now "escort (Nemesis) Colonel Comet to safety" should be entirely doable.

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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.

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Those that apply the rating before they have finished only count only as a count of .5 (or whichever fraction of the arc they have completed) of the whole total ratings. One who has completed the full arc counts the full 1 towards the rating count.

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The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.
--The Question, JLU

Is I14 just the MA? No other features or bug fixes included?

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I'm quite certain it will be possible to make a mission where you're guaranteed to fail. Making a mission that cannot be completed, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

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So you're saying "escort Cardboard Box to safety" is probably out of the question?

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That's an clicklie or blow up thingie. I doubt the MA will allow you pick an object as a hostage. Now "escort (Nemesis) Colonel Comet to safety" should be entirely doable.

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I still fully intend to do some tinkering, like seeing what happens when you give AVs and hostages Teleport (if that's even possible -- I saw a "travel power" tab in screenshots).

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Is I14 just the MA? No other features or bug fixes included?

[/ QUOTE ]this is all we know so far

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http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

I think one main area you would want to avoid is too much text. If your descriptions and story is too lengthy that may cause a player to exit immediately. I know I will be trying to streamline my story...it will be difficult to find that balance of just enough story and fun missions...

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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.

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For the love of {higher entity} yes!
My playstyle, and that of some of my friends, revolves more around in-character, roleplay type stuff -- telling stories, just as you've said the point of the Mission Architect is -- but we occasionally get some merits from a TF, or from arcs.. And they're in such small quantities all over the place, that they never really get to be used for anything, particularly since htey aren't a tradeable resource.

I've been playing almost daily since December 07, and have exactly one character that's gotten past 30, so you can see how merit opportunities, while -there-, are scattered about.

In particular, going to nuke a character that just 'wasn't working', and only having a dozen merits -- not enough to even try to gamble for a recipe -- makes me sad.

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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.

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If we're lucky... maybe that's what this means:

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According to Synapse "...there will be some small changes to the merit reward system (and the reward system in general) in Issue 14, that I am sure will be viewed as positive changes."

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But it could also mean they're going to redo costs to be cheaper (I kinda hope for that... 250 merits for a stealth IO? 55 merits for an uncommon recipe there are thousands of?) or maybe offer more ways to give merits. Who knows.

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I'm quite certain it will be possible to make a mission where you're guaranteed to fail. Making a mission that cannot be completed, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

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So you're saying "escort Cardboard Box to safety" is probably out of the question?

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That's an clicklie or blow up thingie. I doubt the MA will allow you pick an object as a hostage. Now "escort (Nemesis) Colonel Comet to safety" should be entirely doable.

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they already did escort fusionette and she is as smart as a cardboard box.

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Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running

I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!

You are in a maze of twisty little passages

Okay, I have one major concern that has been bugging me that I do not believe has been addressed.

To my understanding all random drops are removed from player made missions, salvage, recipes, enhancements, and instead replaced with tickets that can be used to buy these.

Can they be used to buy ultra rare purple recipes?

The entire reasoning for not putting them into reward merits is that they are supposed to be that rare, and that they drop only when killing critters, with a one in X chance. While I would perfer to be able to buy them with reward merits, I can certainly respect this.

However with player made missions, that one in X chance is instantly changed to 0. You will not get purples from doing these missions.

Since it has already been stated that you guys do not want to punish people for going through player made missions instead of normal arcs, how do you plan on adjusting for this?

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@Incarnadine - 50s on Victory:
Electric-Boogaloo (Electric/Psy Dominator) | Floating Flame (Fire/Psy Blaster) | Guldo Golem (Stone/Mace Tanker) | Hornak (Elec/Elec Brute) | Insatiable Greed (Demon/Dark Mastermind) | Solar Explorer (Plant/Thermal Controller) | TimeTraveler (Kin/Ice Defender) | Verranil (Emp/Archery Defender)

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I think one main area you would want to avoid is too much text. If your descriptions and story is too lengthy that may cause a player to exit immediately. I know I will be trying to streamline my story...it will be difficult to find that balance of just enough story and fun missions...

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This is a difficult balance. There needs to be enough story to draw the reader in, but not so much as to push them back out again.

Now, for test mode missions I'll run with my wife, daughter, and/or other friends and family, I'll probably keep the text much shorter. We'll gather in the SG base for a better mission briefing first, then go run the missions. RP potential is great.

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I had to laugh at http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/gam..._overview.html

'The First MMORPG to Offer User Created Content!'

Yeah. Way to do your homework.

[/ QUOTE ]Not to be snarky, nor to challenge your assertion, but because I am ignorant of MMORPGs in general, who else has done so? CoH is my first and only.

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I know Star Wars Galaxies offered RP and event construction tools before they rejiggered the entire combat/skills/leveling systems twice. These tools supposedly allowed you to set up triggers to spawn NPC's with custom dialogue, things to find within the environment (including buried chests containing clues on far flung planets) and even drop temporary scenery (such as downed spacecraft) into the shared gameworld (any place you could place player created architecture). For better or worse, I was already on the way out the door when these were released, but they were supposedly quite versatile in the original rules system. The original game was already quite conducive to free-form RP and if you had the time to connect regularly with certain communities, these tools promised to really amp up the player generated content.

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QR

I think I know the answer to this, but perhaps getting an answer might just make it official.

Am I correct in assuming that NCSoft will retain the rights to any and all stories, narratives, characters, and IP created in MA?

Create people are chomping at the bit to use MA. Creative people also may have external stories they wish to implement in MA, and it would be a shame to get these two mixed up.

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Arc #345863 - When The Bough Breaks
"Curse you Perry the Plata...wait, is that Love Handel?" - Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Phineas and Ferb