Multi-arc stories

I avoid arcs that are explicitly labeled as parts of a trilogy. Very rarely can someone really keep a single story running for 15 missions (and more often than not those trilogies are 15 missions long). In most cases where I did play the first part it became apparent that the same story could have been told in only 3 missions.

I don't mind connected arcs where a dangling plot thread is resolved in another. Sequel hooks are ok, but I hate cliff-hangers.

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I don't think I'll ever, ever play one unless I personally know the author. Ever.

Most of the stories are paper-thin to begin with, so when they stretch them out over 15 missions? No thanks.

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did you read anything except the op? I'm not talking about 15-mission epics.

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

[ QUOTE ]
I avoid arcs that are explicitly labeled as parts of a trilogy. Very rarely can someone really keep a single story running for 15 missions (and more often than not those trilogies are 15 missions long). In most cases where I did play the first part it became apparent that the same story could have been told in only 3 missions.

I don't mind connected arcs where a dangling plot thread is resolved in another. Sequel hooks are ok, but I hate cliff-hangers.

[/ QUOTE ]

how would you feel if both parts were published at te same time, so the waiting for the resoluion took only as long as it took you to activate the next arc?

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

<QR>

a) As far as I am concerned, every arc is required to stand on its own. Handing me an arc to review that isn't a self-contained story is fast-tracking yourself to a one-star review.

b) Before setting out on a ten or 15 (never mind 40) act epic saga, Architects should first prove they can produce a five-act arc actually worth playing. Most of the people I see trying to write these Bataan Death March arc series can't.

c) The devs did not pull the five-act limit out of their nether regions. You may notice that all of the recent TFs have been five acts. This is about the one-sitting limit for most players.

d) Real writers work within limits. They hear editors say things like "your story was cut from four column inches to three, tighten it up, we're on deadline" or "the focus groups thought it was too long at 500 pages, cut it to 350" all the time. Having a hissy fit because your character's magnum-opus origin story doesn't fit into five acts or 100KB is just demonstrating you should be kept away from the system in the first place.

e) Occasionally there are exceptions to general principles. You, however, are not one of them.

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Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"

Lol Here we go.

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a) As far as I am concerned, every arc is required to stand on its own. Handing me an arc to review that isn't a self-contained story is fast-tracking yourself to a one-star review.

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Your position is clear, at least, even if you cannot (or simply don’t want to) justify it with a reasoned argument to support your opinion.

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b) Before setting out on a ten or 15 (never mind 40) act epic saga, Architects should first prove they can produce a five-act arc actually worth playing.

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I heartily agree with you, which is why if there’s any natural justice in this life, we will never see a 15-mission Venture story.

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Most of the people I see trying to write these Bataan Death March arc series can't.

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Hyperbole doesn’t make your point any more valid. You throw criticism at huge sprawling epic self-indulgent overblown arcs and it sounds fair enough, but conveniently ignore the fact that not all stories of over 100kb will be the Heaven’s Gates that you try to cast them as.

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c) The devs did not pull the five-act limit out of their nether regions. You may notice that all of the recent TFs have been five acts. This is about the one-sitting limit for most players.

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True. Katie, the Ouro TFs, The LGTF, STF, the upcoming I15 TFs and (I think) the ITF are all 5 missions or shorter. However, I think you’re comparing apples to oranges here. The MA isn’t a TF-simulator. Something akin to the ITF or the STF may not fit in 100kb. You’re picking out the recent TFs because they happen to support your stance, is all. There are more TFs in the game with more than 5 missions, and even disregarding those, the normal arcs (which I would say mirror what we make in the MA more) are predominantly over 5. Even taking the same timeframe as your TF examples, of arcs introduced since, say, Croatoa, the predominant arc-length is over 5.

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d) Real writers work within limits. They hear editors say things like "your story was cut from four column inches to three, tighten it up, we're on deadline" or "the focus groups thought it was too long at 500 pages, cut it to 350" all the time. Having a hissy fit because your character's magnum-opus origin story doesn't fit into five acts or 100KB is just demonstrating you should be kept away from the system in the first place.

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Your snide use of ‘real’ here belies how small-minded you are, Venture. You don’t even have the grace to grant those who you think don’t live up to your narrow pretentious ideals the title of even bad writers; to you, they’re not writers at all, are they? And then you trot out the frankly hackneyed ‘hissy fit’ line, which smacks of an adult saying ‘stop showing off’ to a child knowing the humiliation it will cause. But I’m not a child, venture, and you’re not an adult. Come on, Venture, you can do better than just resorting to trying to hurt my feelings, can’t you?

In response to what feeble points you contain in your insult, neither of my arcs contain any of my player characters, one of my arcs fits fine in the 5-mission limit of one arc, and I laugh in the face of anyone who tries to claim that The Audition is a Magnum Opus. I can finish all 6 (count em)missions in about 45 mins, and all players who’ve responded have finished the whole story in one sitting.

As far as I am concerned™, the quality of a story, not its length, should be what demonstrates whether or not an author should be kept away from the system. Which brings us to:

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e) Occasionally there are exceptions to general principles. You, however, are not one of them.

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Absolutely charming, as ever, Venture. Have you played my arcs, or is this just your default unpleasant state coming through again?

Eco.

---

MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

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Something akin to the ITF or the STF may not fit in 100kb.

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Considering that a huge chunk of that 100kb is taken up by adding even a few custom critters? Yeah, they likely would. They have few unique objectives, and not a lot of flavor text.

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You’re picking out the recent TFs because they happen to support your stance, is all. There are more TFs in the game with more than 5 missions, and even disregarding those, the normal arcs (which I would say mirror what we make in the MA more) are predominantly over 5.

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Yes, you're right, Positron and Dr. Quaterfield TFs are waaaay over 5 missions.

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Even taking the same timeframe as your TF examples, of arcs introduced since, say, Croatoa, the predominant arc-length is over 5.

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Jim Tremblor: 3 missions. Penelope Yin: 1 fed-ex, 1 hunt, 3 missions. Doc Delilah: 2 fed-exes, 3 missions. Agent G: Ok, even counting the four repeating missions as one, it's 7 missions.

Gordon Bower: 2 fed-exes, 1 hunt, 5 missions. Skipper LeGrange: 1 hunt, 4 missions. Kelly Nemmers: 2 hunts, 3 missions. Buck Salinger: 1 fed-ex, 5 missions

Levantera's First arc: Bunch of fed-exes, 5 missions. Second arc: 1 fed-ex, 3 missions. Serpent Drummer: 6 missions. Gaussian: 6 missions. Dark Watcher: 6 missions. Ok, so the RWZ arcs are a bit over 5 missions.

Mercedes Sheldon 1st arc: 1 hunt, 3 missions. 2nd arc: 1 hunt, 4 missions. 3rd arc: 3 missions. Villain arc: 1 hunt, 2 fed-exes, 2 missions. Also, despite being connected, all these arcs have a conclusion of their own.

I'm not even going to get into all the regular villainside content.

So, where are all these newer arcs that are "predominantly" over 5 missions long?

---

Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World

Ewa, I consider those deliveries and hunts to be missions. You're also conveniently ignoring any of my points apart from the narrow area that you want to disagree with.

Howver, as I look at your datya i do see that the arc length of canon stuff introduced in recent issues does seem to be smaller than it would seem.

There's one other difference between canon arcs and MA arcs that I think could be applied (you may disagree of course): travel time. There is of course travel time between canon arc mission. The first few missions require a journey back to the contact, and even after the cellphone numbers obtained, there's travel time between missiion door.s In the MA there's no travel time required, compariticely. I don't think it's unreasonable to equate the enitre amount of 'extra work' spent in canon travel during an arc to, say, one more MA mission. For the purpose of comparing on a 'one sitting' basis.

It's interesting how something so arbitrary can spawn such debate, tbh. Agent G's arc is great, in my opinion, and yet under Venture's blanket rules, it'd be damned lol. I guess its indicative of the way the Internet allows free reign Man In Pub debates.

Eco.

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

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I don't think I'll ever, ever play one unless I personally know the author. Ever.

Most of the stories are paper-thin to begin with, so when they stretch them out over 15 missions? No thanks.

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did you read anything except the op? I'm not talking about 15-mission epics.

Eco

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I breezed through it, but you're not going to change my mind by saying "multi-arc stories under these circumstances."

Heck, I barely play arcs by people I don't know as it is (though this is partially because it's nice outside and I have too much to do outside of playing video games at the moment).

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Your position is clear, at least, even if you cannot (or simply don’t want to) justify it with a reasoned argument to support your opinion.

I could just say it's a matter of aethetics, which it is, and therfore not subject to debate, but as it turns out that's not necessary. I review stories. A story has a beginning, a middle and an end. It has the five parts of Freitag's Triangle: precipitating event, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. That's in the general case, at least. I actually have an arc on Test that doesn't fit that pattern ("Why We Fight", #225399) but it's something of a comedy and thus deserves a little wiggle room. A vetting of my reviews will show that I do grade comedies on the curve, at least as long as I thought they were funny. Humor is, of course, completely subjective. Enough digression, though. An arc that does not have the requisite components of a story and lacks a valid artistic reason for such omission is a failure. "It didn't fit" is not a valid artistic reason.

I heartily agree with you, which is why if there’s any natural justice in this life, we will never see a 15-mission Venture story.

I'm pretty much satisfied with the reviews my arcs have gotten. Even people with an axe to grind can't credibly grade them below three stars.

Incidentally, "Chains of Blood" is technically the first volume of a trilogy. I'm not sure I'll ever bother to write the other two; that's a lot of work for alternate continuity. To date no one has complained that it is in any way an incomplete story. I do have an idea for a multi-arc storyline intended to replace the VEAT train wreck and I might just go through with that when we can purchase additional slots.

You throw criticism at huge sprawling epic self-indulgent overblown arcs and it sounds fair enough, but conveniently ignore the fact that not all stories of over 100kb will be the Heaven’s Gates that you try to cast them as.

I have played a number of arcs labelled as "Part I" or somesuch. Not one of them has left me wanting to see Part II, never mind Part VIII. I really don't want to play 39 acts and then find out in act 40 it's a Shaggy Dog story.

There are more TFs in the game with more than 5 missions, and even disregarding those, the normal arcs (which I would say mirror what we make in the MA more) are predominantly over 5. Even taking the same timeframe as your TF examples, of arcs introduced since, say, Croatoa, the predominant arc-length is over 5.

Eva has already refuted this (your reply is unconvincing). For the record, were I the editor I would have 86ed the Your Princess Is In Another Castle missions in Agent G's arc (that is forgivable once per story, and was already used in Jim Tremblor's part) and the history-editing device (which is not necessary and like almost every other form of time travel causes more problems than it solves).

In response to what feeble points you contain in your insult, neither of my arcs contain any of my player characters, one of my arcs fits fine in the 5-mission limit of one arc, and I laugh in the face of anyone who tries to claim that The Audition is a Magnum Opus.

That was a generic "you", as the <QR> at the top of the page did indicate the message was not a reply to any particular person. If you've decided the shoe fits, of course....

Absolutely charming, as ever, Venture. Have you played my arcs, or is this just your default unpleasant state coming through again?

I have not, nor am I likely to at this point.

---

Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"

Again, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an arc to be an arc: Beginning, middle, end.

Beginning, middle-- is not an arc.

If you want to make a story that takes multiple arcs to complete, that's fine. But if the arcs aren't actually arcs, a lot of folks will be put off, and that's an understandable reaction.

When you start an arc, it's reasonable to expect that it will be an arc... not half of one, or a segment of one.

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The Cape Radio: You're not super until you put on the Cape!
DJ Enigma's Puzzle Factory: Co* Parody Commercials

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I avoid arcs that are explicitly labeled as parts of a trilogy. Very rarely can someone really keep a single story running for 15 missions (and more often than not those trilogies are 15 missions long). In most cases where I did play the first part it became apparent that the same story could have been told in only 3 missions.

I don't mind connected arcs where a dangling plot thread is resolved in another. Sequel hooks are ok, but I hate cliff-hangers.

[/ QUOTE ]

how would you feel if both parts were published at te same time, so the waiting for the resoluion took only as long as it took you to activate the next arc?

Eco

[/ QUOTE ]

You really need to learn to read.

Nowhere did I say that the issue was with waiting for a new installment. Even if all three parts are up at once I am not likely to even begin it. I'm talking about playing 5 missions only to be told that I have to play 5 more just to get any answers, and since it is a trilogy the 10th mission will most likely tell me that I need to play another 5 missions to get the answers.

I'm reviewing one for a friend right now who got in before I added my "no multi-arc stories" rule. Since it was submitted under the old rules I'm playing it but I did part 1 over a week ago and have yet to find time to do part 2. By then I'll probably have forgotten what part 1 was about and have little clue what is going on in part 2 if it assumes that I played part 1 recently and remember all the details.

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Incidentally, "Chains of Blood" is technically the first volume of a trilogy. I'm not sure I'll ever bother to write the other two; that's a lot of work for alternate continuity. To date no one has complained that it is in any way an incomplete story.

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Having played it, as far as I am concerned it is a complete story that doesn't need any continuation if the author does not desire to write it. It's like Star Wars: A New Hope, Back to the Future, or Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl, you don't need to watch any other installments to feel satisfied. Very unlike the 2nd and 3rd part of each of those trilogies which require seeing them both and seeing them in order to get the full story.

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I avoid arcs that are explicitly labeled as parts of a trilogy. Very rarely can someone really keep a single story running for 15 missions (and more often than not those trilogies are 15 missions long). In most cases where I did play the first part it became apparent that the same story could have been told in only 3 missions.

I don't mind connected arcs where a dangling plot thread is resolved in another. Sequel hooks are ok, but I hate cliff-hangers.

[/ QUOTE ]

how would you feel if both parts were published at te same time, so the waiting for the resoluion took only as long as it took you to activate the next arc?

Eco

[/ QUOTE ]

You really need to learn to read.



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Ouch. That's a bit harsh.

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Nowhere did I say that the issue was with waiting for a new installment. Even if all three parts are up at once I am not likely to even begin it. I'm talking about playing 5 missions only to be told that I have to play 5 more just to get any answers, and since it is a trilogy the 10th mission will most likely tell me that I need to play another 5 missions to get the answers.



[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, there I agree with you to some extent. I'm beginning to think I should have titled this thread differently. I wasn't really focussing on stories with 15 missions, but storiues with much smaller total mission sizes primarily, say 8 max, but everyone who's in this thread with a 'Mutli-arc story=bad!' opinion is just talking about massive stories of 10 or 15 or more missions.
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I'm reviewing one for a friend right now who got in before I added my "no multi-arc stories" rule. Since it was submitted under the old rules I'm playing it but I did part 1 over a week ago and have yet to find time to do part 2. By then I'll probably have forgotten what part 1 was about and have little clue what is going on in part 2 if it assumes that I played part 1 recently and remember all the details.

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I also didn't mean to refer to arcs which are supposed to be individual chapters of a series, but that's what people have hit on. i think the break point for me is how people can be so inflexible about what constitutes a story

I'm going to go on, but now I'm talking in general, not just to you, Laz.

Here's a thought experiment. I have three slots to publish arcs in. I publish a story in one of those slots. It's one arc, 4 missions long. Narrative-wise, it has a beginning, a middle and an end.

I then also publish exactly the same story, exactly the same missions, except I split it into two arcs of 2 missions each. I make it clear in the descriptions that its meant to be one story, NOT chapters of a series. Part 1 of this 2-arc story would have a beginning, some of the middle, but no ending. Part 2 would have no beginning, some of the middle, and an end. I could use the statement "Today I played a story that was 4 missions long' to describe my experience with both of them.

What reason is there to downrate the second 'iteration' of the story when the first is identical other than the fact that it doesn't have an extra window popup midway through?

This is I admit an extreme case, and there would be no point to making the 2-arc version if the 1-arc one would fit into 100kb. Which raises the issue of memory as a limiter too.

We have a number of ways to look at the 'limits' we have for story-creation in the MA.

We could say a story has to be equal to or less than

1 arc and
5 missions and
100kb

The amount of stuff we can produce with the MA is limited by those parameters, if we consider those to be the limits for an acceptable story.

I could create a 4-mission arc that hits 99kb, and one extra mission thats 20kb long and put that as an arc labelled Part Two and there'd be criticism (criticism based purely on the fact that it wasn't contained within one arc, I mean. Its quality as a story is moot to this point). The story would be 5 missions or less, but it would be more than 1 arc and over 100kb. I'd be criticised because I was making more 'stuff' than allowed by the limits of the MA, which is what some people have decided is the limits for acceptable storytelling. But the limits of the MA are not set in stone, they have already changed since it went live. The optimisation of memory coming in I15 may mean that my first part is no longer 99kb but 86kb, and my second part is no longer 20kb but 12kb. I could then put them both into one arc and all would be well, despite there being no difference at all in the story between both versions?

I think people should be more open minded when it comes to the MA.

It's also totally possible that I'm just not being clear enough about what i'm trying to get across. I agree that often (in most cases, even), huge sprawling multi-chapter epic stories of X+[too many] missions can be tedious to play and exhausting to go through, and i'm also a die-hard believer in editing, editing, editing. I just think that flatly stating 'any story which goes over 1 arc is bad, period' is going too far.

Eco.

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

There's not a story in the world that can't be told in 3 missions or less. Multi-arc stories are mostly self-indulgence. Heck, most 5 mission single arcs are self indulgence. As a rule, I avoid multi-arc stories. That the author put their story into multiple arcs shows he and I aren't on the same page as to what makes a good mission or arc in this game.

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The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.

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Part 1 of this 2-arc story would have a beginning, some of the middle, but no ending. Part 2 would have no beginning, some of the middle, and an end.

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Then neither of those are arcs. It isn't a "2-arc" story. It's one arc split into two segments.

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(criticism based purely on the fact that it wasn't contained within one arc, I mean. Its quality as a story is moot to this point).

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That's debatable.

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I think people should be more open minded when it comes to the MA.

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Oh, the irony!

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It's also totally possible that I'm just not being clear enough about what i'm trying to get across.

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I think I understand what you're trying to get across. If I'm not mistaken, you think it's okay to split a story arc into multiple MA slot segments.

That's fine.

Other people believe that each MA arc should be an arc.

This is also fine.

As I see it, the problem is you don't think this is fine. You've implied it's 'arbitrary', 'unreasonable', and 'closed-minded' to look at it that way.

It's not. It's simply a different perspective. And your continued efforts to invalidate it don't exactly indicate an open mind to me, y'know?

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I just think that flatly stating 'any story which goes over 1 arc is bad, period' is going too far.

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What some people are saying is that an arc that isn't an arc is bad. There's a case to be made for that, and it's been made in this thread already.

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The Cape Radio: You're not super until you put on the Cape!
DJ Enigma's Puzzle Factory: Co* Parody Commercials

[ QUOTE ]

I think I understand what you're trying to get across. If I'm not mistaken, you think it's okay to split a story arc into multiple MA slot segments.

That's fine.

Other people believe that each MA arc should be an arc.



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Yes! this is exactly what I mean...er, but you managed to say it far better than my clumsy efforts have so far. /sheepish grin.

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This is also fine.

As I see it, the problem is you don't think this is fine. You've implied it's 'arbitrary', 'unreasonable', and 'closed-minded' to look at it that way.

It's not. It's simply a different perspective. And your continued efforts to invalidate it don't exactly indicate an open mind to me, y'know?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah. yes. I see what you mean. I thought I was being inclusive of others opinions (in that within my definition of an 'acceptible arc' lie the single-arc 'normal' MA creations, but I guess i should also expand my allowances to include the preferences that people have for whatever reason for sticking to the 1-slot limit. Oops.

It's probably far easier for me to simply change my terminology.

I'll stop waffling on now, I'll only make it worse lol. But you're totally spot on about me viewing arcs and slots as not neccessarily the same thing. Thank you for that.

Eco.

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

I enjoy long story arcs, and sequels are even more fun. I don't understand the overwhelming preference of most people to three-mission arcs with no sequel, but I'm happy that these sorts of arcs aren't the majority.

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QR

Weatherby_Goode - "Heck, Carrion Creepers negates the knockdown from Carrion Creepers."

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I enjoy long story arcs, and sequels are even more fun. I don't understand the overwhelming preference of most people to three-mission arcs with no sequel, but I'm happy that these sorts of arcs aren't the majority.

[/ QUOTE ]

For me and (some) others: Time.

As someone already alluded to, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that I will have the time to sit through all parts of a multi-arc story in one sitting.

Therefore if you split your story into multiple arcs (or mulitple incomplete arcs--which is what is being proposed in this thread) I will probably NOT have the personal time to go search for the other. Another HUGE problem (also alluded to by others in this thread but missed by some posters) directly linked to that is: if I'm interested enough in the story to go through all 3 (or more with more slots being available soon) parts, I will probably end up playing them on DIFFERENT DAYS. Meaning I WON'T remember jack diddly squat of what happened in part 1, 2, or part 7 (lol don't laugh--with more MA arcs being available soon, you just know someone is going to be trying this. ) of your epic opus. Meaning that parts 2 and/or 3 WON'T make sense to me AT THE TIME that I play them. Guess what happens to an arc that doesn't make sense, in terms of star ratings?

Folks are sure as hell NOT going to go back to play part 1 if they don't remember. What's even more likely is that when they log into that toon the next day (or week later--as is often the case) they'll be like "bwah? part 2 of "blah, blah, blah"? "What the hell happened in part 1 again (/em scratching head)?" "Ah well, just going to drop it and move on". Yeah that's really great for the author that put all that work into a multi-arc opus to not have parts 2 and 3 played cause the player can't remember what the hell happened in part 1, cause they didn't have time to play all the parts in one sitting.

Multiple incomplete arcs to tell one story is NOT a good idea for this game of ubercasualness.

You can do it, but don't complain if people rate your story lower.

When one goes to play an arc they want a COMPLETE STORY in one setting.

Telling them to stay tuned to this "same bat channel" next week or to go look for arc etc, etc, is NOT something I think most would do. Sure some would, but as evidenced by the small sample in this thread I have the distinct suspicion that many WOULD NOT.

My 0.02 inf.

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Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!

Fair enough, aura.

Out of interest, do you avoid as a matter of course canon arcs thatyou cannot compete in one sitting?

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

[ QUOTE ]
Fair enough, aura.

Out of interest, do you avoid as a matter of course canon arcs thatyou cannot compete in one sitting?

Eco

[/ QUOTE ]

A year ago I would have said no.

Now, with such limited time (work across 3 states, significant other) affirmative YES.

Then again I've done just about ZERO canon arcs with my last 6 50s. Because after 4 years and 12 OTHER 50s, there isn't a canon arc I haven't seen yet. So cannon arcs are pretty much USELESS to me in terms of enjoyment and fun for many reasons BESIDES time.

Mostly just do SHORT AE stuff, some AE farming and tfs (the new TIME REALISTIC ones, not the old dreck known as the shadow shard and positron) on the weekend.

EDIT: With the newspaper/radio system also (before issue 14) you REALLY were NOT missing anything in terms of available missions per level if you skipped any canon arcs. Also you could bascially use Oroborous to go back and only do the short ones if you just HAD TO see the nice moldy 2+ year old cannon arc again for the 112232323th time.

Oh, and yes, I AM glad that there is FINALLY new dev content in issue 15.

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Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!

Qr it seems that in order to not piss off the audience, when presenting an arc that spans more than one slot, Time is going to be a deciding factor, and also clarity in the descriptions.

It's also clear ghat for some people, using more than one slot per story, no matter how short each segment is, is an automatic red flag. Such is life!

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)