MA: Fix the Freakin' Spawn Spots Please!

I've been mostly tinkering with the MA since it came out. I was aware of these problems in beta and logged them there but hoped it wouldn't be rushed out. I just don't find the system all that wonderful when it won't do what it says it will do. I understand that I'm probably not the only one to complain about:

If I pick a map with 15 middle wall collection spots, I want the ONE wall collection item to show up in the middle of the map. Not the front and not the back. I want the middle. I don't want to spend literal hours just trying to find a map where my progression of events will work.

Also, front, back, and middle can be pretty vague. A lot of maps branch out in many directions making it unclear where the middle and back begins and ends. Could these areas be color coded or something? Could the individual spawn spots be marked? Could we actually (gasp) get to pick a spot for our item or boss or what have you?

I know you can work around it and that sometimes working with limitations in an endeavor can make for some ingenious developments. However, this is just broken. It doesn't work and it's starting to feel more grindy than anything else in this game trying to make it work. Please, my kingdom for a fix.

Attache

PS I don't actually have a kingdom.

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Attache @ deviantART

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It would be nice to add some of the features you suggest to make mission building a little easier. MA is still new. They probably wanted to see how it went before they "dress it it" and improve it. For now it seems they are trying to put it back on track for story-telling by nerfing out the farms.

I'd send this to the suggestion board.

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I may send the actual suggestion part to that board but the MA is not working as intended with regard to placing bosses and collection items in the middle of the map. I'm using Longbow maps, many of which are pretty straight in their layouts and anything placed in the middle invariably ends up in the last room of the layout. There are middle collection and spawn spots and they apparently can't be used. That says broken to me.

Attache

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Attache @ deviantART

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True.. I agree. Like you, I've found straight hallway maps that had the "middle" objective show up in the back of the last room, and the "rear" objective show up in the front of the last room.. screwing up the intended story at times.

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Not all maps have defined "Front" "Middle" "Back" zones.

Yes its a pain to find the ones that do.

(None of the outdoor maps do, and very few of the single level maps do. Its seems to be somewhat consistant tho that multi level maps have each floor tagged as one of the zones).

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Tanker Tuesday #72 Oct 5 @Champion

"I am not sure if my portrayal of being insane is accurate, but damn its fun all the same."

[ QUOTE ]
Not all maps have defined "Front" "Middle" "Back" zones.

Yes its a pain to find the ones that do.

(None of the outdoor maps do, and very few of the single level maps do. Its seems to be somewhat consistant tho that multi level maps have each floor tagged as one of the zones).

[/ QUOTE ]

So the issue is that whomever was in charge of breaking down the map areas for the players is just a huge, incompetent tool? Every map I tried this on supposedly had multiple "middle" areas. That means that they didn't just mess up on a map here or there but basically messed up on all of them?

There may be a reason that I don't want to use a multi-level map story-wise so if there is no defined middle area for a single-level map, I need to know so I don't waste my time. Still broken if you ask me.

Attache

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Attache @ deviantART

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I know what you mean. It makes mission pacing a bit awkward.

I have a machine you are supposed to inspect for instance and then your told to destroy the others. I'd link it, except collection objectives don't have an option to spawn after a condition is met.

So the first machine is supposed to be in the front so you are more likely to find that first, to explain why you are destroying the other ones. As I said... supposed .

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I want the Sharkhead maps back.

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@MrsAlphaOne
Member of the [url="http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=171543&TabID=1451954"]RIMC[/url]
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[color=red]Official Beer Wench of PWNZ[/color] Arc 452196 When Madness Reigns over Reason. Play it and PM me your constructive criticism on what I can tweak before Oct 20th. <3 U all

[ QUOTE ]
(None of the outdoor maps do, and very few of the single level maps do. Its seems to be somewhat consistant tho that multi level maps have each floor tagged as one of the zones).

[/ QUOTE ]
Somewhat but not always - I have a hero lab map that will occasionally put a back spawn as the first spawn in the map.

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Follow up:

Switched to a 3-level tech map even though I hated it for purposes of the story I had planned. The map I'm using has 3 Middle and 2 Back spots for Rescues, Escorts, etc and I have 3 escorts (1 Middle, 2 Back) that I'm setting up to spawn off of a Collection (Wall, Front) on the first floor.

The Wall Collection is spawning fine but I'm still getting Middle and Back spawns for the escorts turning up at the front. I mean, like spitting distance from the entrance. If that isn't the front, then what the [censored] is the front?

Every time this happens, I'm going to bug it. Since it seems to happen like every test I do, I may make a macro.

In all seriousness, I'm getting very, very, very frustrated with the MA. Seems great if you just want to fun some simplified version of the dev-developed missions (mess of enemies, mess of collections, go!) but if you want a progression of events to happen, this is simply NOT working.

Attache

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Attache @ deviantART

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