The Mission Architect: Restrictions
By
Another_Fan,
Posted on: 2009-06-06 18:50 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
[ QUOTE ]
If I wanted a grind, I'd go play Everquest.
[/ QUOTE ]Amen. I've already played the mindless "Ok, let's kill another three frogloks... and other three frogloks... and another three frogloks... and another three frogloks... Is it time to start killing Juggernauts yet?" game once. To hit closer to farming, I've already done the AoE bard kiting thing for nights on end (well, way back before it was nerfed).
Yawn. I still want rewards for my effort, but I'm happier these days with something with a touch more depth.
[ QUOTE ]
ITT we all make sweeping generalizations about the playerbase.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree, but I actually think we make sweeping generalizations about ourselves as well. What I mean is, anyone who says they care only about the story is, I believe, wrong. Similarly to anyone who says they care only about rewards, or the graphics, or the gameplay.
To see what I mean, think about the extreme of any of these cases. What if the game told a great story but just required you to click the mouse every 10 seconds? What if the game had a great reward schedule, but was just lines and boxes? What if the graphics were amazing, but there was nothing to do?
I believe it's the interaction of all these things that draws each of us to game, regardless of what we say here, or what aspect of it we might be drawn to more. If it was only story, we would just watch a movie or read a book. If it was only gameplay, we'd all just play boxhead forever. If it was only rewards, we'd be on Progress Quest.
That's why I find the whole rewards-vs-story argument a bit silly. We need both or else no one's gonna subscribe for long.
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenth ur-
nuk!
[ QUOTE ]
So rough for you to continue to play a game, in which you just know the devs are on a COMPLETELY different page than you are, while they continue to work diligently to improve the game for the silly 2% who you clearly hold in such contempt. That's got to be frustrating to you. You must wonder whether there's a kindred-spirit game developer out there for you somewhere.
[/ QUOTE ]
they're right here, we've got them now.
the game currently appeals to farmers, RPers, storyphiles, badge hunters, you name it.
When something breaks the boundaries of their acceptable reward payoff they change it. Other than that, they leave people be.
And that's the way it should be.
Cash is agnostic. It spends the same whether the fifteen bucks comes from farmers or RPers- and the devs know this better than anyone.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
[ QUOTE ]
So rough for you to continue to play a game, in which you just know the devs are on a COMPLETELY different page than you are, while they continue to work diligently to improve the game for the silly 2% who you clearly hold in such contempt. That's got to be frustrating to you.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not so much, because I know there are those disagreeing with me simply because its me talking. 
They're saying "I'm in the 2% here for the story!" but honey, you take away their rewards and watch the outrage begin.
I am all for the devs continuing to improve the game. Cool. Got nothing against it. But expect to find epic story-writing, especially in the MA....? Er.... not so much. In fact 99.9% of what I see in MA makes the dev's writing look like Shakespeare by comparison. You don't go into MA and find stuff like Seer Marino, pretty much. If you're lucky you might find something cute and funny.
But probably not, most likely you are gonna find the Boomtown outdoor map with 500,000 Freaks on it. And I accept that reality with the knowledge that those Freaks are about to give me a lot of xp and I can have fun talking to friends as we clear the map. Yes, I'm not a 2%er.
What I am is a realist.
Do I really have to choose between rewards and story? I enjoy the chance to tell my tales, but I also like to know that someone's reading them.
To that end, I would probably stop using the MA if they took out all rewards and left it just "Story for story's sake". If the people who are looking for a good story and some rewards are all avoiding the MA, why write for them? Similarly, if all I was going to get was a big map filled with mobs, and nothing more than "Go kill" as the storyline, I would probably stop using it in that case, too.
At the end of the day, I can't help but feel that they're fairly close to the balance point right now. I would like to see more teams running AE missions than farms, but that's as much on the players either to stop farming or start more story teams as it is on the devs. Probably moreso, since there's only so far the devs can go without ruining the whole deal.
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
[ QUOTE ]
Funny how it works out, isn't it? Not only are they improving the game for the "2%," but they're simultaneously nerfing it for the 98%.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's funny since the ONLY nerf I saw was fixing the outliers and exploits in MA.
Otherwise, I still don't see a PROBLEM for me as a farmer to gain the rewards at an exponentially faster rate. 8)
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Funny how it works out, isn't it? Not only are they improving the game for the "2%," but they're simultaneously nerfing it for the 98%.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's funny since the ONLY nerf I saw was fixing the outliers and exploits in MA.
Otherwise, I still don't see a PROBLEM for me as a farmer to gain the rewards at an exponentially faster rate. 8)
[/ QUOTE ]
The trick is, quit farming, start playing the market. Reward rate is potentially several times what the best farmer can make per hour.
Fixing exploits? All for it. Still not sure why they capped tickets per map, though. Seems that the ticket cap was set to keep people from farming. Or having any use at all for "large" size maps, since they go over the ticket cap, and even in a good story arc, people hate wasting effort.
119088 - Outcasts Overcharged. Heroic.
It should be required when creating something with Mobs, you should make a check that a Minion, Lt., & Boss are in said mission.
Instead of All one or the other.
JJ
I delete more 50s, then you'll ever have.
http://www.pandora.com/people/jjdemon
[ QUOTE ]
It should be required when creating something with Mobs, you should make a check that a Minion, Lt., & Boss are in said mission.
Instead of All one or the other.
JJ
[/ QUOTE ]If you allow the all-one-mob, but reduce their rewards, people could still make Challenge missions.
Ok, my own opinion (which, I was hoping, would be ignored) was that there should be no real exp rewards.
The actual question I was trying to ask was Reduced Rewards and Creativity, or more Rewards and Restrictions, and which of those you would rather have.
I apologize if I wasn't clear...
I honestly lean a little toward implementing an XP/hour cap, although it would have to be extremely high. They'll drive off everyone who comes in under the cap, so they need to set it over what the non-exploitative max is. What it would do, though, is catch people that find exploits without needing to roll them back - and allow them to leave everything in the MA without fear of exploit.
I don't know if I really believe that they'd set it high enough, though. The temptation would be strong to set it to a spot that they were very comfortable with, and it would clearly need to be outside that range for them.
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenth ur-
nuk!
Here is my idea and I think it is a good one.
Make the AE a virtual world. While in the virtual world no xp and no tickets, but you get to create your own character (either start at level 1 mandatory or let the level be variable and allow power selection up to level 50, to be limited by the scenario) that lives in the virtual world. Your virtual character can have powers that you cannot have.
The virtual character can also earn xp and tickets but these are only usable in the virtual world. Out in the "real" world your character does not gain xp or any other benefit of being in the virtual world.
However!!! "Real" world rewards do affect virtual world characters, so any vet rewards they can have.
You can also copy your character to the virtual world as she is and play her there for a few fun missions.
This will make the AE alternate story entertainment instead of a powerlevelers paradise.
[ QUOTE ]
Here is my idea and I think it is a good one.
Make the AE a virtual world. While in the virtual world no xp and no tickets, but you get to create your own character (either start at level 1 mandatory or let the level be variable and allow power selection up to level 50, to be limited by the scenario) that lives in the virtual world. Your virtual character can have powers that you cannot have.
The virtual character can also earn xp and tickets but these are only usable in the virtual world. Out in the "real" world your character does not gain xp or any other benefit of being in the virtual world.
However!!! "Real" world rewards do affect virtual world characters, so any vet rewards they can have.
You can also copy your character to the virtual world as she is and play her there for a few fun missions.
This will make the AE alternate story entertainment instead of a powerlevelers paradise.
[/ QUOTE ]All this does is create a completely separate version of the game. What's the point? (I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just don't see the point of playing it.)
ITT we all make sweeping generalizations about the playerbase.
I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who don't give two [censored] about story. I'm sure a lot of people just skip past all of the dialogue. However, the percentage of people who don't are almost certainly above 2%.
Personally, the creativity of MA is highly important. Of course, that's pretty much the point of having player created missions. However, if there were no rewards, not many people would play in it. I sure as hell wouldn't. While I enjoy story, this is an MMO after all.