Do you read MA mission text? Clues? Descriptions?
By
Alex_Mars,
Posted on: 2009-05-09 21:50 in Mission Architect
See, that right there: The first part establishes some flavor to the enemy group. Once I've established it's all the same for each guy, I can skip it, read his little individual blurb, and shoot him. Or not, if I choose, since after reading one or two I have some idea of who I'm shooting.
If you put nothing, you might as well put "walking sack of xp, inf and tickets."
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When I am out solo or duo I read everything, but when with a group there is usually no time as most groups keep a pretty brisk pace.
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That's what I find. I love the clues and dialogue and it can be frustrating doing new content with teams. Stamina/healing rest breaks are good times to catch up with clues.
I believe in "show don't tell" but sometimes players need more explanation or gaps appear in the story. You need just enough "tell" to keep the player satisfied but not slowed down. Getting that balance can be difficult.
My experience shows that many folks DO read everything...virtually everytime someone does my little mission (unabashed plug: search "Chesticles" to try it!), they send a comment that points out the specific things that made them guffaw. This is appreciated, because it allows me to go and tweak weak spots, or bask in the glow of knowing that I have made someone smile.
I read mission pop-ups, and NPC dialogue. I like to tell stories visually in my missions.
Sage Advice: Think picture book. Keep it simple. Even npc names and apearances can push the plot. Focus on Mood, Theme, and setting. Use Cause and Effect, Create NPCs with depth and develope them over several missions, Let the players tell the story through RP.
Read a White Wolf table top RPG book's storytelling section.
I read everything 
If im soloing i like to read at least the story descriptions, the dialog of the enemies, and maybe any boss tags. Sometimes i read individual enemy tags. On a team though, people tend to just want exp, and so often don't do new arcs at all. Actually, ive been going back to doing radio mishs now, because my character is past lv. 32 (mastermind), so its quite safe and fast, and ive made enough money already to have basic ios in like everything. Not enough good arcs out there, or at least worth trying to sort thru to find, for me to attempt playing the MA arcs. People need to playtest their arcs a lot with different AT's if the arc is gonna be uber, because a lot of people put in mezzers and think nothing about simple things like squishy AT's having to face them. (i.e.- mind control minions)
Yes. I read everything. Stories are what make MA so rich and wonderful.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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Not only do I click on all custom mobs to see if the author took the time, trouble and attention to detail to make the best possible arc ... I also have created a Tab for NPC dialogue that I use for MA missions so that I don't miss a beat the author wanted me to see.
This added tab makes the BEST arcs (imho) EVEN MORE enjoyable because I get to enjoy each nuance of the story ... helps add to the fun of just basic GOOD arcs, where the dialogue etc helps with the ambiance but doesn't actually advance the story ... and clues me into POOR arcs (again, imho) that don't use anything but the contact information to set the tone, background and thrust of their story.
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I have also created a tab for NPC text. I like to see if arcs have "personality."
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I right-click on everything: enemies, allies, objects. I also read everything. As such, I try to make sure my arcs include descriptions, clues, and souvenirs, and am disappointed when I'm playing an arc that doesn't include much in the way of background.
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How important is all the "wordy" stuff to you?
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Wow... I'm exactly the same. However, when I solo an Arc, I can afford the time, when grouped, that's a different story... which reminds me of my original reasoning about why I shouldn't have gotten into MMO's in the first place! 
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Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
I typically try to read everything. The mission text and the custom enemy flavor text are usually the big, easy things to focus on.
Clues are a little more hit-and-miss for me, because as they pile up, I need to scroll through the group of clues to find the new material. However, sometimes I find missions where stuff that appears in the clue descriptions is not summarized in the mission debriefings. In which case going over the clue text is a good thing, because it helps fill in details that I would otherwise miss.
Objects in missions tend to get the least attention from me, unless it's really something out of place and cries out for an explanation.
But in general, yeah. Words matter to me. They tell the story, and add further variety to the game. They keep the game fresh and interesting.
tl;dr
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Joking. 
When I'm soloing, I tend to read everything.
So, when making an arc, I try to "add a lot of flavor" up to and including non-required glowies and such.
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By the way, one of the first things I do on every new character is move NPC text to the normal chat window. I want to make sure I see it all.
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I right-click on everything: enemies, allies, objects. I also read everything. As such, I try to make sure my arcs include descriptions, clues, and souvenirs, and am disappointed when I'm playing an arc that doesn't include much in the way of background.
How important is all the "wordy" stuff to you?
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I really like everything, I like everything in regular content too though, If I haven't ever done a mission before I like it when people leave the glowies so I can read what the information says during and after clicking them. If they do not I ask them to type to me what it said. (pb/paper missions those glowies I could care less about) I read the clues, I read the souvenirs, I like reading everything in fact during patron arcs I get people trying to TP me to missions when I've set it for their convenience and I'm still reading all the info someone like arbitor has (he's long winded)
In MA it's no different.
I like right clicking the custom minion/lt/bosses/avs to see if they have tidbits of information that ties into the mission.
After a fight If I missed something I scroll back and read the dialogue. I find the dialogue usually the most enjoyable thing in the MA system.
I like the Intro/Send off and return information as well. So it's enjoyable.
I have found story arcs that do not include a lot of information inside the missions but heavily rely upon the information given by the contact and those are enjoyable as well. I figure that it is either they have ran out of space, or are unaware of being able to enrich the story a little more through added details inside the mission, or sometimes the story carries well enough in the intro/send off/return and the pop ups that clues aren't really needed.
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If you have a complicated story to tell, you have to use every means at your disposal to tell it: enemy bios, dialog, mission entry and exit popups, and of course everything the contact says. If I could have one feature added to the MA, it would be triggerable dialog that didn't rely on combat (achieve objective X or enter area Y, ally says Z).
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Arc 64511 - The Wrecking Ball
Arc 1745 - The Trouble With Trimbles
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I wrote my first arc before I played anything and had such a blast filling in every possible blank (well, almost) that it became very apparent to me that the devil (and the good stuff) would be in the details of a good arc. So yes. I stop after combat and check the chat tab for dialogue and such, I click on custom mobs before I attack, I carefull read clues and so on, etc.
I try to read it all. I get a pretty good idea if there is anything to read by the description and intro texts though.
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For the most part, I put in text for stuff, no matter how incidental. There are a few I've missed, but that's at least in part because my file sizes are hovering near the 100% mark.
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This, except to say that my files hover near the 120% mark. ;(
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I read whatever the people put in their missions. Sadly, I don't tend to find many people that actually DO that.
They write up a decent description for the arc to lure me in and then I get inside and BLAMMO, nothing else. No chatting mobs. Generic descriptions when I hit info on the mobs. No clues, nothing for collection items. Just bland old defeat boss, collect clues, defeat all enemies. 
I'd really like to find a way to sift through the flotsam and find some really good arcs. I mean, apparently there are some out there.
Aren't there?
Losing faith in humanity, one person at a time.
The best way seems to be looking on the forums. You'll get shameless plugs for arcs that people are proud of, and unsolicited praise of gems people have run across.
Arc 55669 - Tales of the PPD: One Hell of a Deal (video trailer)
Arc 64511 - The Wrecking Ball
Arc 1745 - The Trouble With Trimbles
Arc 302901 - HappyCorpse
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I read whatever the people put in their missions. Sadly, I don't tend to find many people that actually DO that.
They write up a decent description for the arc to lure me in and then I get inside and BLAMMO, nothing else. No chatting mobs. Generic descriptions when I hit info on the mobs. No clues, nothing for collection items. Just bland old defeat boss, collect clues, defeat all enemies.
I'd really like to find a way to sift through the flotsam and find some really good arcs. I mean, apparently there are some out there.
Aren't there?
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check out my arc for a ton of dialog, animations, descriptions. There are arcs out there like that.
But I agree most are what I call "bookend" arcs. Great intro text, great post mission text - but the mission itself is standard spawns standing around with one objective (usually a boss). Only the boss has dialog and usually doesn't have any animation.
HELL YEAH I read that stuff! ALLLL a DAT! LOL
Thats whats SUPPOSED to be half the fun with these customizable missions. Please, by all means, ENTERTAIN me while I'm blastin fools out they socks! Yes!
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I read whatever the people put in their missions. Sadly, I don't tend to find many people that actually DO that.
They write up a decent description for the arc to lure me in and then I get inside and BLAMMO, nothing else. No chatting mobs. Generic descriptions when I hit info on the mobs. No clues, nothing for collection items. Just bland old defeat boss, collect clues, defeat all enemies.
I'd really like to find a way to sift through the flotsam and find some really good arcs. I mean, apparently there are some out there.
Aren't there?
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Yes. One of the best ones is Ascendant's ( yes, with an "a") Saul Rubenstein's Discount Task Force. It's a DC one and is full of details to read.
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Only the boss has dialog and usually doesn't have any animation.
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Personally, I've had difficulties in getting some animations to work when set to the boss though I set them anyways.
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I understand your point; however, when I've got three custom minions and a pair of LTs in a group, finding five different ways of saying that they're all guns for hire can get monotonous, both for the writer and the reader.
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Hey, who ever said they all need to have different descriptions? Not me! Agreed 100%, that would be stupid if they really are all pretty much the same.
I have zero problem with five different mob types that all say, "These guys are hard-bitten guns for hire, recruited from the back alleys and dark places of Paragon City," if that describes them all equally well. That's still a thousand times better than "Minions are weak and a hero can take on three of them no problem."
I do prefer a bit of specific info about each type, but it's not necessary for a good story.