I'm surprised that there is another one, I figured that Dev Choice was on hold until after i15 went live because of how many arcs would break and they knew everyone would want to play with the new features and would be mad if they couldn't because their arc was locked for editing.
But in general DC disappoints me. I really wonder what their selection criteria is as many of them were chosen way back in i14 closed beta and honestly are not that good really. I've played a lot of SFMA arcs and seen many that overshadow the Dev Choice arcs by a large margin in terms of writing and design. As such I've given up on DC arcs.
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they said they would be looking into arcs that are generating buzz, and I've lived in this Stories and Lore section of the forums and have never even heard of this new Dev's Choice arc, when there are quite a few arcs floating around that are getting consistently rave reviews from everyone that's played them.
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Yep, I've never heard of it either.
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...But it's been quite a while into issue 14 and we have 12 Dev Choice arcs.
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I think 9 or maybe even 10 of those came over from Beta.
WN
Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story
I'm just shocked there is a new one.
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Relativity Be Damned by @Tragic Eight Ball
which is unplayable at the moment too.
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I tried it--couldn't get past Positron? since his MoG appears to be eternal, giving him time to regen 3/4ths of his health before he finally killed me.
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I'm surprised that there is another one, I figured that Dev Choice was on hold until after i15 went live because of how many arcs would break
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I assume by "break" you're just referring to critter changes? Because DC arcs don't get invalidated like other arcs do when there are changes to maps and the like.
Although, this latest DC arc *is* invalid, so that's pretty interesting in and of itself.
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I'm surprised that there is another one, I figured that Dev Choice was on hold until after i15 went live because of how many arcs would break
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I assume by "break" you're just referring to critter changes? Because DC arcs don't get invalidated like other arcs do when there are changes to maps and the like.
Although, this latest DC arc *is* invalid, so that's pretty interesting in and of itself.
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They can't go back and fix their customs. Also they cannot update their arcs and fine tune them with the new tools in issue 15 MA. If it weren't for the uproar with the previous change to the Standard power selections we probably wouldn't have found out about the upcoming Custom option until i15 beta started, the news was broken on that to calm people down.
So right now why give any new DCs at all instead of waiting until after issue 15 when people can take advantage of the new features?
And the arc being unplayable is interesting as well. Did the devs play it a long time ago, finally decide to DC it, and then just do it without testing it again first?
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They can't go back and fix their customs. Also they cannot update their arcs and fine tune them with the new tools in issue 15 MA.
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Trust me, I know full well the limitations that come with having a DC arc. 
I was just looking for clarification on the term "broken," since DC arcs can't really "break." (One of the main reasons I haven't risked unpublishing my DC arc so I can make much needed changes -- hoping, of course, they'd "re-DC" it -- is the current limit of 3 arc slots. Once we can buy more arc slots, I'll be very tempted to go ahead and do it since I'll have a few more slots to play around with...)
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And the arc being unplayable is interesting as well. Did the devs play it a long time ago, finally decide to DC it, and then just do it without testing it again first?
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That's what I was thinking, but they would have had to have made their decision before the last patch that changed stuff, wouldn't they? That's the only way I can think of for a published arc to be invalidated; it's not like you can edit it to do anything to make it invalid and then republish it.
Errr, huh? So if a map gets removed from the game that a DC arc was using, the DC arc is STILL playable? How is that even possible?
That's NOT how I understood DC to work when it was first discussed (and why a lot of folks stated that they would decline allowing their work to be DC'd.)
My understanding is that when a patch comes out that breaks somethings, YES the DC arc CAN become unplayable. However to edit it, you have to PM Customer service.
I never heard that the DC arc's were immune to breaking from patch changes (such as a map being removed).
Correct me if I'm wrong, or misunderstanding what's being said here.
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Errr, huh? So if a map gets removed from the game that a DC arc was using, the DC arc is STILL playable? How is that even possible?
That's NOT how I understood DC to work when it was first discussed (and why a lot of folks stated that they would decline allowing their work to be DC'd.)
My understanding is that when a patch comes out that breaks somethings, YES the DC arc CAN become unplayable. However to edit it, you have to PM Customer service.
I never heard that the DC arc's were immune to breaking from patch changes (such as a map being removed).
Correct me if I'm wrong, or misunderstanding what's being said here.
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You're incorrect. DC arcs are immune from the invalidation that would occur due to map changes or other patch changes. My DC arc, for example, shows invalidation-level errors when I go to edit it, but it's perfectly playable. Pohsyb had a post specifically stating that DC arcs would be immune from invalidation (it came shortly after they made it so DC arcs weren't editable during Issue 14 Open Beta), but of course that post was purged when the Issue 14 forums were taken away.
EDIT: I've never heard that a simple PM or petition to customer service is enough to edit a DC arc. It might be worth a try, since I would LOVE to be able to edit mine. As I said above, I've considered unpublishing it just to edit it, even though I'd have no guarantee that they'd "re-DC" it.
When I first heard about it, I thought 'Developer's Choice' was a horrid idea.
None of this has changed my opinion on it. 
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I don't really have an issue with Dev's Choice. Hall of Fame is another matter.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
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I don't really have an issue with Dev's Choice. Hall of Fame is another matter.
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Agreed. The dev's cherry picking their favorite arcs does not bug me. What bugs me is when an arc gets really good feedback, works its way up in plays, keeps its five star rating, then finally makes it to HoF only to be blasted back into four-star purgatory by a bunch of trolls.
I fail to see why it matters so much.
Too many people believe that Dev'Choice = the best of the best.
Well, here's a fact : it's not true. There's one Dev Choice arc that's good, the rest is average at best.
What Dev Choice really means is : "we, the Devs liked that arc". Yes, the very same devs who wrote Positron's or Dr Q's TFs.
With purchaseable story slots coming in I15, it's even less of an issue.
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The Dev Choice arcs mostly demonstrate that the Devs picking them have some lousy tastes IMO.
Fair is fair.
I thought Butterfly Effect was well-written and fun.
I had a belly laugh during the Discout Task Force's first mission...five-starred it right away and told the author as well.
Some of the others had engaging stories but the mobs were very annoying :/.
I can't fault any of the Dev's Choices. Clearly we differ in what we enjoyed. I've found some fantastic arcs out there (I still recall one about preventing the Trojan War, just incredible) that may never get DC status with the overabundance of 4 stars out there.
Myself, I'm just using it to pen small stories about the game world. People seem to like them *shrug* and in the end that's great. My friends build farm missions where they pile up mobs and generate mad exp and inf and that's fine too, it won't get them Dev's Choice but it's creative and challenging in its own way.
Questions about the game, either side? /t @Neuronia or @Neuronium, with your queries!
168760: A Death in the Gish. 3 missions, 1-14. Easy to solo.
Infinity Villains
Champion, Pinnacle, Virtue Heroes
Any decent PUG leader has figured out how to find mission that work well for groups and ignores the rating system. DC and HofF are great for a small clique to pretend they are better than other people. They are great for solo guy who can't hack it in a group , wants to demote stars because a work is mispelled , and give stars for uber text like its a show on PBS . They suck if you are running a group and want to find good missions with XP, variety, some challenge and something that will leave group members wanting more.
It would be nice if the devs posted somewhere a short review and WHY they felt the arc deserved selection as a DC.
I haven't seen this arc posted anywhere, so the stated "generating buzz" criteria doesn't seem to apply in this case.
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Just about the only DC I enjoyed was Butterfly Effect. The rest seem entirely... vanilla to me.
QR
Weatherby_Goode - "Heck, Carrion Creepers negates the knockdown from Carrion Creepers."
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Just about the only DC I enjoyed was Butterfly Effect. The rest seem entirely... vanilla to me.
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Hmmmm. Are you including the one in my signature?
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Just about the only DC I enjoyed was Butterfly Effect. The rest seem entirely... vanilla to me.
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Bah, and there I thought at least my Dr. Aeon would give even the most sour players something to enjoy. Ah well, I guess you really can't please everyone. 
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Hey, I haven't tried them all. Just going off of the ones I have. :P
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Weatherby_Goode - "Heck, Carrion Creepers negates the knockdown from Carrion Creepers."
I think it's a little ungracious to meet the newest dev choice story arc with such negativity. So let me say instead:
Congrats on making Dev's Choice!
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I don't really have an issue with Dev's Choice. Hall of Fame is another matter.
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From a design perspective, I don't particularly care for either one of them. I think they're more trouble than they're worth. From a play perspective, they're just kinda... in the way.
Some of the headaches that come with DC--or, more specifically, the implementation of it--are illustrated in this thread.
How I think it probably should've been implemented:
* If an arc gets DC, it gets a seal on it, which has no effect on its placement in the list.
* If you click on the seal, you get a little pop-up with a brief explanation on why the arc was chosen. Maybe attach a Dev's name to this as well, so we can start getting an idea of each Dev's tastes and whether or not they're in line with our own.
* Allow players to search for just DC arcs.
I think this approach would've mitigated a lot of the negativity we now see in relation to DC.
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Relativity Be Damned by @Tragic Eight Ball
which is unplayable at the moment too.
Honestly, this makes me a little mad. When the dev's announced the Dev's Choice, they said it wouldn't be as elusive as, say, Bug Hunter. But it's been quite a while into issue 14 and we have 12 Dev Choice arcs. I thought they might be holding off awarding new Dev's Choice after they announced the badge will be going away, so they don't have as many badges to take away. But after today with a new Dev Choice, that theory is more or less out the window and the fact is that they just aren't awarding this title to any arcs. I know they're busy, but they said they would be looking into arcs that are generating buzz, and I've lived in this Stories and Lore section of the forums and have never even heard of this new Dev's Choice arc, when there are quite a few arcs floating around that are getting consistently rave reviews from everyone that's played them.
At least, it would be great to have some official word on this, whether it's "We're too busy to play many arcs and look at the forums, but this one managed to slip through" or "We are waiting for issue 15 to come out because of the badge issue, but this one managed to slip through" or even "we've looked at those arcs and didn't feel they were dev choice worthy, but this one did."