Its impossible to really MAKE a 5 star mission. at least not without massive help in proofreading and feedback.
Plus the law of averages on ratings you get pretty much assures a good arc will hit 4 stars.
Want comedy and lighthearted action? Between levels 1-14? Try Nuclear in 90 - The Fusionette Task Force!
Arc ID 58363!
true - but my concern is that people seem to think you make a great intro text and a plot for your arc - and that makes it great.
They don't seem to realize that the missions themselves need to be fun and interesting.
Though the whole premise of this thread is pretty flawed (as Cav pointed out), the tips you give for make sense, and go a long way towards making an interesting mission.
Also. Outdoor missions are good when used correctly. "Fight the boss(es)" or "rescue the hostage(s)" missions suck on outdoor maps, because there is a high ratio of wandering around searching to actual fighting. I can't remember a single canon arc that was outdoor and required a search that I enjoyed. The reason for this is there is no inherently obvious place on most outdoor maps for an objective to be placed. (there are some exceptions, of course, but then sometimes, the objectives still don't spawn there)
If you HAVE to have an outdoor map with a non glowing and humming search objective, make that objective obviously visible somehow. Using the various magical capture emotes could be a good way.
Perhaps I'm way off base with my opinion in this, but that's my 2 inf.
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.
Additional clues don't have to be from Allies/captives. Allies are overused IMO and can really get in the way of earning experience/tickets. Also note that I often skip them until the end. So if you are counting on me recueing ally at beginning of mission don't count on it.
An alternative is to set up a "boss" who is just a minion or leut. You can overhear him talking before you attack and he will give up text on defeat. By placing him at Front, you can get the info as you enter.
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You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.
The way the system is setup atm the it is impossible to make a 5 star mission. Here is an example why.
ARC #291239
Player 1
* Dialog: Very creative well thought out
* Enemies: Creative custome and cool colors
* Length: 1 hour just right.
*Rating: 5 stars*
Player 2
* Dialog: zomg 2 pages of text, what a loser!
* Enemies: lol, he has a butt cape!
* Length: stupid moron made 3 missions, abandon arc.
*Rating: 1 star*
Player 3
Hmmm let's see if anyone has a 5-star rating.
/sg hey everyone pls review arc #291239 and give it a 1 star, the guy is a jerk!
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The way the system is setup atm the it is impossible to make a 5 star mission. Here is an example why.
ARC #291239
Player 1
* Dialog: Very creative well thought out
* Enemies: Creative custome and cool colors
* Length: 1 hour just right.
*Rating: 5 stars*
Player 2
* Dialog: zomg 2 pages of text, what a loser!
* Enemies: lol, he has a butt cape!
* Length: stupid moron made 3 missions, abandon arc.
*Rating: 1 star*
Player 3
Hmmm let's see if anyone has a 5-star rating.
/sg hey everyone pls review arc #291239 and give it a 1 star, the guy is a jerk!
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Seems to me the op was talking about a five-star quality arc. He's not guaranteeing five stars, he's trying to help people write better arcs.
Besides, you forgot player 4:
"GAH! Another popup!"
::clicks it away without reading what it is or rating the mission::
The Scrappers' Guide to Dark Melee | Kheldian Binds and Strategies
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Though the whole premise of this thread is pretty flawed (as Cav pointed out), the tips you give for make sense, and go a long way towards making an interesting mission.
Also. Outdoor missions are good when used correctly. "Fight the boss(es)" or "rescue the hostage(s)" missions suck on outdoor maps, because there is a high ratio of wandering around searching to actual fighting. I can't remember a single canon arc that was outdoor and required a search that I enjoyed. The reason for this is there is no inherently obvious place on most outdoor maps for an objective to be placed. (there are some exceptions, of course, but then sometimes, the objectives still don't spawn there)
If you HAVE to have an outdoor map with a non glowing and humming search objective, make that objective obviously visible somehow. Using the various magical capture emotes could be a good way.
Perhaps I'm way off base with my opinion in this, but that's my 2 inf.
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I generally agree, but I abuse this.
My arc actually has 2 outdoor search missions.
The first is city 02 - you do have to look for people but they are in the streets. And the enemies guarding them are semi-unique (there are patrols that look the same). The whole point is the searching, and I don't think it is a problem. There are spawns all around, so it is a lot of combat, not just running around searching.
The second one has the enemies doing the Pantheon Casting so they glow. Making it much easier to find them.
It'd be nice if you could pick non-boss characters from the stock groups to use in "fight a boss" battles, which would serve here as "setpiece" battles -- LT challenging you or training warriors. But currently I don't think that's possible. Any Warrior boss fight has to be an Elite Slasher/Hewer/Crusher.
It's also pretty tough to set up a battle that a player can find in progress, as opposed to seeing the aftermath of because all the action happened while he was still around a corner.
I'd also like to be able to set up a defendable object that DOESN'T spawn in an ambush behind you, to use for setting purposes.
If you want to use random maps, so that people who play your arc again don't know where everything is the first time, you have to risk front/middle/back placement putting things out of the order people will find them in.
And finally, there's the size cap to consider. It's hard to make an arc with both a varied selection of custom enemies and a lot of optional details. Briefing text is the most compact way to convey information.
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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It'd be nice if you could pick non-boss characters from the stock groups to use in "fight a boss" battles, which would serve here as "setpiece" battles -- LT challenging you or training warriors. But currently I don't think that's possible. Any Warrior boss fight has to be an Elite Slasher/Hewer/Crusher.
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No kidding. I wanted to use lts. as boss fights in a planned low-level arc of mine (like the devs often do in the 1-10 content), and ran into a wall when I found I couldn't actually do that. 
I've found two somewhat haphazard workarounds, though they're rather limited. The first is of course to make a custom group lt, but you can only get so close to existing groups, and the second is to make an 'enemy escort' - select the add an escort objective, make the captive an lt. and set to hostile. It'll 'fail' the mission when defeated, but if fail is complete, at least it technically accomplishes its purpose.
Like I said, rather limited. 
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
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And finally, there's the size cap to consider. It's hard to make an arc with both a varied selection of custom enemies and a lot of optional details. Briefing text is the most compact way to convey information.
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It is hard, but I have a 5 mission arc loaded with details, with all custom characters.
Frankly I'd rather cut the intro text shorter and have more in the missions.
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It'd be nice if you could pick non-boss characters from the stock groups to use in "fight a boss" battles, which would serve here as "setpiece" battles -- LT challenging you or training warriors. But currently I don't think that's possible. Any Warrior boss fight has to be an Elite Slasher/Hewer/Crusher.
[/ QUOTE ]
No kidding. I wanted to use lts. as boss fights in a planned low-level arc of mine (like the devs often do in the 1-10 content), and ran into a wall when I found I couldn't actually do that.
I've found two somewhat haphazard workarounds, though they're rather limited. The first is of course to make a custom group lt, but you can only get so close to existing groups, and the second is to make an 'enemy escort' - select the add an escort objective, make the captive an lt. and set to hostile. It'll 'fail' the mission when defeated, but if fail is complete, at least it technically accomplishes its purpose.
Like I said, rather limited.
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Really? Because I'm working on a low-level arc with the Outcasts and Vahzilok, and had to use bosses. I just picked "Random" and when I tested on a low character the boss spawned as a lieutenant.
I could be wrong though, and I'll definitely go back and confirm.
The Scrappers' Guide to Dark Melee | Kheldian Binds and Strategies
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It'd be nice if you could pick non-boss characters from the stock groups to use in "fight a boss" battles, which would serve here as "setpiece" battles -- LT challenging you or training warriors. But currently I don't think that's possible. Any Warrior boss fight has to be an Elite Slasher/Hewer/Crusher.
[/ QUOTE ]
No kidding. I wanted to use lts. as boss fights in a planned low-level arc of mine (like the devs often do in the 1-10 content), and ran into a wall when I found I couldn't actually do that.
I've found two somewhat haphazard workarounds, though they're rather limited. The first is of course to make a custom group lt, but you can only get so close to existing groups, and the second is to make an 'enemy escort' - select the add an escort objective, make the captive an lt. and set to hostile. It'll 'fail' the mission when defeated, but if fail is complete, at least it technically accomplishes its purpose.
Like I said, rather limited.
[/ QUOTE ]
Really? Because I'm working on a low-level arc with the Outcasts and Vahzilok, and had to use bosses. I just picked "Random" and when I tested on a low character the boss spawned as a lieutenant.
I could be wrong though, and I'll definitely go back and confirm.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thats how I did it with my arc. set the "bosses" to boss, and therefore on lower diffs they spawn as lieutenants
Want comedy and lighthearted action? Between levels 1-14? Try Nuclear in 90 - The Fusionette Task Force!
Arc ID 58363!
[ QUOTE ]
Really? Because I'm working on a low-level arc with the Outcasts and Vahzilok, and had to use bosses. I just picked "Random" and when I tested on a low character the boss spawned as a lieutenant.
I could be wrong though, and I'll definitely go back and confirm.
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yes, when it is very few people I've noticed that it often ends up being a leut.
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It'd be nice if you could pick non-boss characters from the stock groups to use in "fight a boss" battles, which would serve here as "setpiece" battles -- LT challenging you or training warriors. But currently I don't think that's possible. Any Warrior boss fight has to be an Elite Slasher/Hewer/Crusher.
[/ QUOTE ]
No kidding. I wanted to use lts. as boss fights in a planned low-level arc of mine (like the devs often do in the 1-10 content), and ran into a wall when I found I couldn't actually do that.
I've found two somewhat haphazard workarounds, though they're rather limited. The first is of course to make a custom group lt, but you can only get so close to existing groups, and the second is to make an 'enemy escort' - select the add an escort objective, make the captive an lt. and set to hostile. It'll 'fail' the mission when defeated, but if fail is complete, at least it technically accomplishes its purpose.
Like I said, rather limited.
[/ QUOTE ]
Really? Because I'm working on a low-level arc with the Outcasts and Vahzilok, and had to use bosses. I just picked "Random" and when I tested on a low character the boss spawned as a lieutenant.
I could be wrong though, and I'll definitely go back and confirm.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thats how I did it with my arc. set the "bosses" to boss, and therefore on lower diffs they spawn as lieutenants
[/ QUOTE ]
Right. But when you want the boss at the end to actually be a cut above anything you find in a setpiece, even for teams or people above diff 1, there's no way to do that, at least not with stock groups.
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)
[ QUOTE ]
Right. But when you want the boss at the end to actually be a cut above anything you find in a setpiece, even for teams or people above diff 1, there's no way to do that, at least not with stock groups.
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See, now I actually have no problem with that. I wanted a boss outcast at the end of my mission, but also ran into the fact that many of the Outcast bosses are also level-specific, meaning that not only would they scale down to a lieutenant on lower difficulty, but I couldn't retain my "levels 5-20" criteria, so I had to create a custom boss with an outcast "look." I don't care that he doesn't look exactly like the other Outcasts, and doesn't have the proper decal on his t-shirt - he's supposed to be a cut above, after all.
Plus, it fostered an idea that he was striking out on his own without the big boss Frostfire knowing, hence his own tshirt decal. Because in my story, Outcasts care about what goes on the front of their t-shirt.
The Scrappers' Guide to Dark Melee | Kheldian Binds and Strategies
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If you HAVE to have an outdoor map with a non glowing and humming search objective, make that objective obviously visible somehow. Using the various magical capture emotes could be a good way.
[/ QUOTE ]
You know what else really stands out? Brightly colored costumes. Have you ever flown over an outdoor map of Carnies? It's like one of my old first-grade picture books.
Hi,
To get a lieutenant to spawn consistently in a boss objective:
Add an existing lieutenant enemy to its own custom group, all by itself. Save that group with its own name and set the enemy type in the boss spawn to be your custom group instead of the main group.
I do this to get a particular non-human shaped spawn in one of my maps. It will also force the map to be constrained to the level range of the mob type.
Cheers,
Conker
people seem to think it is Mission Intro Editor, not Mission Architect. I keep running into missions with good intro text - then the mission is just a map, with a selected enemy group, and a named boss at the end. If they are feeling creative there is a click 4 blinkies in addition to the boss.
I've been through many published arcs now, and I keep seeing this - people don't seem to realize that the mission takes 20 minutes and should be fun. It isn't just about the intro text and naming a boss.
Let's take a basic - defeat a boss mission. A standard newspaper/radio mission has text about some bad guy saying you aren't tough and challenging you to a fight. You go to a map, fight the minions in the way, then fight the boss. That is a 3 star mission (if the intro text is good and the enemies are fine).
To make it a 5 star mission you need the mission itself to be interesting.
Let's decide that we want this to be a real challenge - which means we want villains with some honor. So the Warriors.
When you enter the mission there is an Ally (non-combat) who is a Warrior named "Fight Master". He greets you and tells you that you must first face some minions before you are worthy of challenging the master.
There are "bosses" along the way (could be lt's) that challenge you "I'm going to beat you, then beat Master Warrior and take over this gang".
There are warriors standing by weapon racks (destructible items) saying "I can't wait for a fight".
In a room there is another ally to rescue named "Fight Master 2". You have to defeat the minions near him, then he says "let the lesser duels begin" and wars are triggered - warrior on warrior - as part of their duels.
There are warriors who don't fight (allys or rescues) but say "I'm leaving you for Master Warrior, he's going to tear you apart".
In another room an lt is drilling warriors - giving them pointers.
So as you go through the warrior hangout to challenge their leader, you are jeered, attacked, challenged, and see their training/duels.
The mission has flavor as you walk through it. It feels alive and like part of your story, not just a grind to get through.