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I seem to recall a dev comment about this, is there an official stance on whether giving unwarranted poor ratings could be griefing? Are the devs interested in us reporting potential cases of this? Obviously anonymity of who's giving what ratings makes this impossible for us to be certain about.
I only ask because my first story arc (4336) received a 1 star rating (and no comment) after the first play, but is now up to 4 stars.
Of course there are other reasons for giving it 1 star, maybe they just don't like Sky Raiders. But the lack of comment made me suspicious. I'm guessing that the whole rating system has been heavily discussed including the potential for forming griefing alliances etc. Yet another form of PvP added to the game.
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I totally understand where you are coming from...I had someone tell me mine sucked because it had no ending, well...if they read all of the little things they'd see that there is an ending..
-but- try not to take any of this personally (I know it is easier said than done) but really, different strokes for different folks!
-and- if it is obvious that the person is just a total [censored] who is bitter that no one is playing theirs...well...obvious [censored] is obvious [censored] to everyone so they'll get it back anyway
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The problem as has been said.
Is any rating under a 5 means it will never see the light of day again.
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The thousands of ratings placed on three star arcs to date is busy proving you wrong as we speak.
Sure, you can probably find some counterexample, but I can find pages full of three star arcs where the minimum plays is ten and the median is something like 50.
"I think you're confused. This is /b, not /b/."
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OP: If you're suspicious because somebody gave a one star rating a didn't comment, maybe you need to get over yourself. Are you really that surprised that one person didn't like it?
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Maybe. To me 1 star doesn't say "didn't like it", it says "total rubbish". The arc has a description and I'm wondering who would choose it based on the description and then be so horribly disappointed that they would give it a 1. Perhaps it was someone being honest who only uses 1s and 5s, or didn't read the description, or didn't notice it was a villainous bent.
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Or it is a huge way to encourage people to write better arcs. Criticism is funny like that.
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No. Saying "The running AV spawned right next to a door and I had no hope of preventing his getaway", or "AVs spamming blind is horrible" are ways to encourage better arcs. 1 stars are essentially saying "this sucks" which is not constructive and is only useful to steer other people away from truly terrible arcs, which is an arrogance of assuming others like the same things as you.
This whole discussion is getting me on board with the "scrap the stars system" agenda. We need comments, even publically visible ones, and "recommendations". Sufficient recommendations is what's required for hall of fame.
They ought to make you ENTER a mission before you go rating it.
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<QR>
First, sometimes it only takes two minutes for me to decide a mission or arc sucks. First impressions are extremely important. Therefore a quick one star rating does not always equal griefing. Second, if I play the mission/arc enough to decide it sucks and give it a one or two star rating, I don't owe you an explanation. If I'm willing to give an arc that kind of rating, that means I want to get away from it ASAP. I don't owe the author a damn thing.
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In general I agree with Monk's philosophy, but as a creative type myself I have more sympathy for the poor authors.
If I find myself in a really awful arc with no redeeming features, I'll one-star it as a warning to others.
If I find myself in a boring or uninspired arc, or an arc that has promise but is plagued by bad design or spellchecking, I'll send a comment to the author with my issues, but I won't 'rate' it.
I've seen a lot of arcs that seem like works in progress and it doesn't feel fair to critique them publicly.
As a note to authors, a story arc is like any other kind of writing- you need to immediately grab the reader/player's attention and make them want to see what happens next.
Especially in an ocean of content like the MA interface, where its easy to bail out on an unpromising arc because there are a thousand others sitting there waiting to be played.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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1 Star Bandits a problem? Try 5 Star Bandits.
Today, just about every 5 star mission arc I tried was somebody's farm mission. No contact dialogue, no plot, no descriptions, etc.
One of them had 5 stars and 6 players voting on it. I have a real mission. It got two votes of 5 stars, then one of 3 and hasn't been touched since it's now behind pages and pages of <expletive> missions with phony ratings.
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This...I've played several missions rated 5 stars that were nothing more than Farms, author barely bothered to add any dialouge.
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These I HAVE been one-staring, and with feedback. "No plot, no story, no stars"
I've also been going through the unrated missions, most get 1-3 stars (yes anything less than 5 condems an arc to obscurity). A few I have given 4 or 5 stars, but only a few.
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The problem as has been said.
Is any rating under a 5 means it will never see the light of day again.
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The thousands of ratings placed on three star arcs to date is busy proving you wrong as we speak.
Sure, you can probably find some counterexample, but I can find pages full of three star arcs where the minimum plays is ten and the median is something like 50.
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Those are probably almost all very short arcs.
I noticed very shorts get lots of plays cause they come out on top of search by length.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
I agree with the "comment at any time, but only rate if arc completed" idea, hell - even just "only rate if at least the first mission is completed" would do wonders.
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<QR>
First, sometimes it only takes two minutes for me to decide a mission or arc sucks. First impressions are extremely important. Therefore a quick one star rating does not always equal griefing. Second, if I play the mission/arc enough to decide it sucks and give it a one or two star rating, I don't owe you an explanation. If I'm willing to give an arc that kind of rating, that means I want to get away from it ASAP. I don't owe the author a damn thing.
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In general I agree with Monk's philosophy, but as a creative type myself I have more sympathy for the poor authors.
[/ QUOTE ] I have sympathy for the authors as well(despite not showing it in this thread), but a lot of the comments from this thread seem extremely arrogant to me. Content creators(in this case Mission Architect authors) need to realize that you can't please everybody. The other thing they need to realize that if their arc doesn't stand out, it is probably because it doesn't deserve to.
Truly great arcs will stand out, the rest will be lost in a giant pile of bad, mediocre, and good. Where they belong.
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I agree with the "comment at any time, but only rate if arc completed" idea, hell - even just "only rate if at least the first mission is completed" would do wonders.
[/ QUOTE ] But what about missions that are so bad you don't want to finish? Do those missions not deserve a rating too?
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I have sympathy for the authors as well(despite not showing it in this thread), but a lot of the comments from this thread seem extremely arrogant to me. Content creators(in this case Mission Architect authors) need to realize that you can't please everybody. The other thing they need to realize that if their arc doesn't stand out, it is probably because it doesn't deserve to.
Truly great arcs will stand out, the rest will be lost in a giant pile of bad, mediocre, and good. Where they belong.
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Haha, "deserve". That's rich.
Success is about luck. You need to meet some minimum level, which a modest chunk of the arcs in the game will probably meet, but if a team of 8 people looking for architect badges all one-star your arc because it doesn't have 100 optional objectives, that may not be an expectation you catered to and it's not wrong of you to not meet it.
Sometimes it's a matter of having the right people happen to play it. Sometimes it's a matter of hitting the right keywords.
But you do have to try. Promote your arcs on global channels, the forums, whatever, write the description and the initial dialogue to hook. If you put out a very long arc, realize that you're handicapping yourself (all things being equal a very short arc will get 10x your number of plays) and promote harder.
You can't reach everyone. You can't please everyone. And in a game where promotion might reach 1% of the people, there's a giant random element who your arc will rub the wrong way for no reason you can fix or will want to.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
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If you are willing to accept the praise that comes along with a 4-5 star rating, then conversely you need to be able to stomach a few 1-2 ratings that may not include any supporting comments.
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I am sorry but I don't understand what this has to do with this thread.
[/ QUOTE ] Really? People are crying about bad ratings. They need to get over themselves and realize that maybe their story isn't that great.
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I wholeheartedly agree.
Look I understand the concerns here, but one of the risks associated with MA is that your story arc may not be played. Everyone and their momma is submitting stories right now. So if you are going to take the time to create a story then you have to accept the fact the fact that your mission might not be played and that your mission may receive a 1-2 star rating. No matter what rating format is applied, someone, somewhere will start a thread complaining bitterly about how unfair it is.
I don't care about the 1 starring, people will do that everywhere they go, on the Call of Duty forums, people that reach a certain rank can go 1 star everyone (I went from 5.00 down to 3.00 due to that and I haven't done anything to deserve that). A couple of my arcs went from 5 star down to 2 stars very quickly, but it's the sent feedback that matters (I've had one guy tell me he 1-starred one of my missions because the EB 1 shotted him, LMAO).
i've been hit by at least one, maybe two one star bandits. up to 7 plays though and back up to 4. hopefully it will stay that way 
Maybe it wasnt banditry.
I have avoided doing any arcs because I hear they are rife with minion swarms with full mez protection, and I largely play Dominators and Controllers. I personally would rate any arc with rank and file mez-protection minions with 1 star, out of hand. I would probably leave a comment tho. Since I am somewhat self-aware about my quirks and intolerances, I've simply avoided doing MA content, knowing that I would leave a blood trail of 1 star missions behind me.
But, you know, people 1-starring content may be 1-starring missions due to their own pet peeves.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
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Maybe it wasnt banditry.
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Yes, I observe that in the first post.
Since this topic has come up, I thought I'd share something that I consider valuable feedback, don't know if it came with a rating, I wasn't told. The quote went something like this:
Sky Raiders are lame. The story is lame. My character would never do things as they were portrayed in this mission. I don't even know what's going on. wtf? oO
This gives me something to work with, and lets me know that my goals are not aligned with those of this player. It also teaches me something, people will play stuff without even reading the description: the story was stated as being about the Sky Raiders.
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I've simply avoided doing MA content, knowing that I would leave a blood trail of 1 star missions behind me.
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You shouldn't hold yourself back because of this, with a bit of preparation you should be able to rate fairly.
First, read the description, only do arcs that align with your preferences, and only 1 star arcs that don't come close to their descriptions. 2 star them if they have numerous problems and send messages to the author.
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This whole discussion is getting me on board with the "scrap the stars system" agenda. We need comments, even publically visible ones, and "recommendations". Sufficient recommendations is what's required for hall of fame.
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I'm backpedalling on this one. Ratings are fine, but we need what was there orginally, they don't show up until there are at least 10 of them. You should also see your own rating in a different colour from the average.
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I've simply avoided doing MA content, knowing that I would leave a blood trail of 1 star missions behind me.
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You shouldn't hold yourself back because of this, with a bit of preparation you should be able to rate fairly.
First, read the description, only do arcs that align with your preferences, and only 1 star arcs that don't come close to their descriptions. 2 star them if they have numerous problems and send messages to the author.
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If by preparation, you mean, dont play a Controller, then sure.
But you make a good point. As long as the mission descriptions say they are designed to be AV-heavy, or designed to neutralize certain ATs, then I shouldnt count it against them, at least not more than -1 star to my actual rating.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Can you even give _minions_ status protection? 'Cause the fact that they are minions also limits their power choices; I think some still don't gain anything for increased power setting.
I'll probably log in in a bit tonight; have to take a look at this if I do, haven't looked at -- ye mob creator in much detail since they went over to per-set settings.
"I think you're confused. This is /b, not /b/."
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Can you even give _minions_ status protection? 'Cause the fact that they are minions also limits their power choices; I think some still don't gain anything for increased power setting.
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Energy Aura, even on Standard minions get Entropy Shield.
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I agree with the "comment at any time, but only rate if arc completed" idea, hell - even just "only rate if at least the first mission is completed" would do wonders.
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I would agree except I have run into several story arcs where the first mission convinced me quite thoroughly that:
1. The arc had serious problems
2. I wouldn't enjoy it or couldn't complete it, so I didn't play it
So I quit and rated it and felt justified in doing so.
Example:
An arc with only a hint of story (not even a full sentence for the mission brief), all of the text typed in caps, typos, and a custom ill/wp? boss throwing out confuse, PA, decoys, and illusionist pets surrounded by arachnoids ... oh please, am I supposed to think that is going to get any better?
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.
ROTFLMAO!!
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
I only 1-star missions if it's poor attempt to disguise your blatant farm (I 5 star farms--it elevates it up faster so the GMs will nuke it. I guess they put on a vague semblance of a "story" so that the GMs will have to make a decision on whether it's real content or farm content) or if it's so full of typos or poorly executed cut and paste the author should've felt bad for publishing such a half-arsed piece of work.
The rating system needs an overhaul, yah, I agree. Man, I was PISSED OFF some badger left me a comment PLZ 5-STAR MY ARC I 5-STARRED YOUR ARC. You have idiocy like that happening too. Posi shouldn't of associated badges with MA since this wave of Badgers that have come out...they're WORSE than Farmers, man.
You folks are lucky. I wish someone would just play my arcs. I think they were on page 10 or 11 fifteen minutes after I published them. Even if they were one-starred I'd be happy at this point.
I ran into a few "This was 5-starred?" arcs, yes.
I let them know what I thought, in depth, and rated them according to my preferences.
The thing is, if someone decides to get a bunch of friends to 5-star something, in order to keep it on the front page, they HAVE TO CONVINCE OTHER PEOPLE TO ALSO 5-STAR IT AS AN ONGOING PROCESS. This is because, once you've voted on an arc, you can't pad the voting box, any subsequent votes replace the original. This is also an account-based vote... not per character.
It's one thing to kick something into the spotlight. Its a lot harder to KEEP it there.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."