Well there goes one story arc I had planned, was hoping for map editing capabilites but that definiately isn't in or wont be till a way down the line.
I'm still hoping we can have triggers for events (you know, like taking out/hacking a computer takes out all the turrets/robots in the mission) but I'm getting the feeling we wont be getting something that advanced either so it does kind of look like a paper mission generator with a few more tweaks to it, which isn't a bad thing just I guess I shouldn't have had such high hopes.
Badge Earned: Wing Clipper
A real showstopper!
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Not only have they stopped being bothered about adding new content to the game, there not even giving out full mission rewards for missions the players that can be bothered are making.
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If you're going to whinge about issue 13, the least you can do is scrabble together some degree of knowledge about it.
I imagine its 5 or 6 arcs you can have uploaded to the mission server at any one time (I suspect it may be limited for technical reasons). They will use the same tech as the AH, EU missions will be available to play in the US etc.
Dev coice is most likely just a vetting system. NCSoft emplyees will work through missions, and if it has coherent dialgue, conistant with game lore, non offensive and non farming it will be awarded dev choice and qualify for full rewards. It's basically just a matter of when an NCSoft emplyee gets around to looking at it.
As for the rating, its faily irelevent. Missions will inevitably attract forum reviews, and its the ones that get good reviews on the forums that will be the most played.
I really should do something about this signature.
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As for the rating, its faily irelevent. Missions will inevitably attract forum reviews, and its the ones that get good reviews on the forums that will be the most played.
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Because the majority of players in the game read the forums...?
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
They will when they want to find out which missions are worth playing.
I really should do something about this signature.
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As for the rating, its faily irelevent. Missions will inevitably attract forum reviews, and its the ones that get good reviews on the forums that will be the most played.
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Because the majority of players in the game read the forums...?
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I don't think that mission reviews would draw people who play but don't usually visit the forums.
As I said in the early hours: I do think the forums will start to attract the mission designers, many of whom I'd guess haven't been forum regulars, as the forums will probably become the mission designer help system. Sure that some/most designers will also read any reviews/pointers that appear, but I wouldn't expect the majority of players to.
Because of the high number that don't visit the forums I'll be interested to see if/how the mission designer is mentioned in-game. Just mentioning it on the loading screen won't be enough, I'd guess it'd probably need some in-game direction to guide ordinairy (non-forum reading) players to the mission-designer and PCC missions... which could be tricky to do in-game.
Maybe the 1st PCC arc to be submitted ought to be one that tackles introducing players to designing/accessing PCC arcs.. .. and does so in a better way than the NorCal written introduction! 
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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I seriously hope the and more part at the end of the announcement really means MORE not just something silly like "we're adding more badges earned, badges"
More Co-op zones, hero TF rebuilds, SG base upgrades, PvP content and all the old bugs should be fixed before this imo. After all, bar the Co-op zone bit all the other 4 have needed looking at for years.
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And as you've been here for years you know that the devs tend to do at least 2 major announcements of issue content.
So the and more part and the (Posi-given?) pointers to SG base love seem to say that there will be more than just something silly yet to be announced.
It's worth considering that you write-off PCC but mention SG base improvements and co-op content in a positive light. Many other players may have exactly the opposite view. The devs have to try keeping every plate happy and spinning - the 1st I13 announcement spun the PCC plate, but it'll be a different plate for the 2nd content announcement.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
I imagine the "Dev choice" may well be led by the community managers and GMs, some of whom are probably going to be in the game anyways to help out players when needed. I wouldn't be too surprised if collecting a few "Dev choice" awards may also give an option to flag other missions for Dev notice too, so as the group of quality mission writers with Dev approval grows, the faster they'll find others of merit.
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I imagine the "Dev choice" may well be led by the community managers and GMs, some of whom are probably going to be in the game anyways to help out players when needed. I wouldn't be too surprised if collecting a few "Dev choice" awards may also give an option to flag other missions for Dev notice too, so as the group of quality mission writers with Dev approval grows, the faster they'll find others of merit.
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Which would be more reasonable than having the developers do it all.
All depends how correct the notes from PAX are (which state that it's the developers themselves).
I'd actually thought that the better option was to go off player ratings and then get some NC minion to give the 'top raters' a once-over for quality. And I'd hope that the 'quality' was fairly loose to allow some unlocks by anyone who can design interesting, reasonably-well written, typo-free missions that don't shatter the (glass?) canon... y'know the sort of mission that you quite enjoy, and would play again, but maybe wasn't a 'must-play'.
This is some distance from giving unlockables to the designers of missions that the developers themselves happen to think are cool (as reported from PAX). After all, if this is true, surely the devs are going to want truly outstanding examples of mission-writing if they are going to mark the writer as 'cool' and someone who really impressed them.
Whichever way it goes, I trust that they'll be publishing some form of submission guidelines giving minimum expectations.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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They will when they want to find out which missions are worth playing.
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I don't think so. They'll have an ingame system which shows 5 star ratings - that'll be what guides them. I can't imagine someone suddenly going, "Y'know, I've managed to play this game for years without going to the forums, but you know what, despite all the changes and things on Inventions, Villains added and what not, I don't think I can cope with this mission thingy without going to the forums. Right, I'm off now!"
You might get a few, but again, the only contact the majority of players will have with an ingame system will be ingame.
In my opinion, of course 
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
I shouldn't read these things, it makes me want to play about with it and I am an impatient bunny!
My one concern still remains that it will be possible (perhaps even likely) that you could create a mission/arc and noone would ever play it unless you specifically badgered them into it. t that point it could become impossible for some players to ever unlock anything (as I can't honestly see the devs taking the time to play through EVERY mission created)
Well, the star rating has, I think, been described as being how the missions will be ordered on the "quick selection" screen, suggesting that there may be at least one other method of selecting a mission. Perhaps you can set yourself to randomly take missions, or select missions that use a specific enemy group (really allowing your character to take up a "personal war against the X").
I have to say, given my chronic altitis (I just got the 48 month vet the other day, and I still don't have a single level 50! 
) I may well end up doing PCC almost exclusively for the early half of the game. I imagine there'll be a few players at the cap who will be glad to run through PCC missions (I hope they have a Flashback type option for PCC!) and some players who will just aim to experience as broad a range of PCC as possible. I imagine the liklihood of having no-one play a mission is probably pretty slim.
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I shouldn't read these things, it makes me want to play about with it and I am an impatient bunny!
My one concern still remains that it will be possible (perhaps even likely) that you could create a mission/arc and noone would ever play it unless you specifically badgered them into it. t that point it could become impossible for some players to ever unlock anything (as I can't honestly see the devs taking the time to play through EVERY mission created)
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That's exactly my point! People being left out simply because no one ever plays their stuff.
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I imagine the liklihood of having no-one play a mission is probably pretty slim.
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Let's say 50,000 players of COH/V do missions. Do multiple arcs. In fact, fill up their arcs.
50k x 6 = 300,000 missions.
I'd say there's a fair chance that plenty of missions will never be seen.
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
I daresay most people will almost exclusively use the 'quick pick' meathod of getting a mission. This could lead to people mostly picking those missions which manage to achieve 5 stars. Those missions with 5 stars will get played more possibly to the detriment of those missions which have not yet been rated. Unless someone is specifically looking to play a new, unrated missions, I suspect that the rule of the lazy could come into effect.
Yes, this is all speculation and conjecture but it is all building up to the time when I can say 'this is my excuse for not having a 5 star rated misison' (I seriously doubt even my best attempt at a mission would get 5 stars)
The casual players - those who don't read the forums - probably wont spend that much time on player made missions anyway - unless they are made by themselves or thier friends. They have plenty of dev made content to work through before they need to rummage for good player made missions.
It's they people who have been here a while, and done all the existing missions, who will be playing player made missions, these are the people more likely to spend time on the forums.
The other group that will make extensive use of player made missions are RPers, and they will know what missions they are doing.
With regards to time spent using the mission architect, I expect more player-hours will be spent making missions than playing them.
I really should do something about this signature.
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I daresay most people will almost exclusively use the 'quick pick' meathod of getting a mission. This could lead to people mostly picking those missions which manage to achieve 5 stars. Those missions with 5 stars will get played more possibly to the detriment of those missions which have not yet been rated. Unless someone is specifically looking to play a new, unrated missions, I suspect that the rule of the lazy could come into effect.
Yes, this is all speculation and conjecture but it is all building up to the time when I can say 'this is my excuse for not having a 5 star rated misison' (I seriously doubt even my best attempt at a mission would get 5 stars)
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They could have the default for a completely unrated mission being at the maximum rating so they show top of the list, with an opt out tickbox to not show them, which would help new arcs/missions get played.
As to how many will be playing them, it might also depend on whether they are "instant access", in that you go straight into the mission without having to travel to the mission door: if so, I can see low level missions being very popular, even with the reduced XP (and if it's not prominently shown, many may not even realise there's a different XP award structure). In that case, they may also end up being the new "quick log in and run a mission" over the paper missions for the casual gamer.
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As to how many will be playing them, it might also depend on whether they are "instant access", in that you go straight into the mission without having to travel to the mission door:
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I hope not. Some of my planned story arcs involve getting started with specific contacts, without having to make the first mission a delivery mission 
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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As to how many will be playing them, it might also depend on whether they are "instant access", in that you go straight into the mission without having to travel to the mission door:
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I hope not. Some of my planned story arcs involve getting started with specific contacts, without having to make the first mission a delivery mission
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Remember, they've already said the PCC will be presented to us as "training simulator" missions. Somewhat like a danger room sort of thing.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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As to how many will be playing them, it might also depend on whether they are "instant access", in that you go straight into the mission without having to travel to the mission door:
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I hope not. Some of my planned story arcs involve getting started with specific contacts, without having to make the first mission a delivery mission
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Remember, they've already said the PCC will be presented to us as "training simulator" missions. Somewhat like a danger room sort of thing.
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Yes, so they did
It'll no doubt work like Ouroboros does
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
I don't know I'd worry too much about EU-made missions getting preferential treatment over US-made ones.
Assuming they're all available everywhere, a Dev seeing a good mission made by someone they don't know might well just get them to be more interested. As for them not reading our forums, that could work in our favour.
If Positron (for example) had been reading the US forums and saw all about a few missions being made, but then logged in and found some that he'd never heard about that might make him like them more, due to a relative unfamiliarity to them. Like finding a really awesome movie on DVD that you'd not seen advertised at the cinema and on TV.
For searching for missions I'd like it if they do something similar to the finding players for teams, with a bunch of different options to filter out certain enemy groups, lvl ranges, mission types, etc.
A "player who liked this mission also recommend..." box would also be good.
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.
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I'm just a bit concerned as to what happens to someone who spends a long time creating an arc, posts it up...
... and then nobody plays it, due to it never being near the top of the list (lots of other arcs, etc.)? Through no fault of the player, all that time and effort gone into making something and no recognition out of it?
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I'm hoping they'll have a search system, so you can sort missions by level, factions, objectives and so on - that would help a lot, I think, so that it wasn't just the newest ones that people played.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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They could have the default for a completely unrated mission being at the maximum rating so they show top of the list, with an opt out tickbox to not show them, which would help new arcs/missions get played.
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Or they could have a random selector - or even a filtered random selector - like you first search for CoT missions, then click the random selector and it'll give you a random CoT mission.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
The other thing that might determine if a mission gets played or not is the opening briefing. If this is well written, players are far more likely to decide to play a story arc or not.
I really should do something about this signature.
they should have a bo selecta as well as a random one.
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.
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I'm think it's quite likely there'll be no player name attached to the misisons - there's not really any need for it, after all.
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You're thinking and I'm hoping there won't be any creator name associated with the missions... for the sake of impartiality and whatnot.
Rabbits & Hares:Blue (Mind/Emp Controller)Maroon (Rad/Thermal Corruptor)and one of each AT all at 50
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