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-Instead of radio/paper missions, ad nauseam, give generated arcs that, although minor, at least have some sort of point to them, I appreciate that someons got to come up with them, but thats part of hte point, isnt it? Not a cut and paste mission over and over and OVER again. Throw in a few proper ambushes, a few little interesting twists, stuff like that. Hopefully this might be resolved with Architecht, but I guess we'll need to see.
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Hmm... it'd need a different interface. The radio/newspaper missions are set up that way for a purpose and likely wouldn't work with your proposal. Arcs and mini-arcs, and such are what contacts are there for.
Thinking about it... this is what contacts are there for. Not signed.
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-Make it easier to get around in Paragon so that people can actually investigate more of the stuff that doesnt normally get touched.
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But... but... half the population keeps saying it's too easy to get around Paragon as it is. (Not me, but I've never quite got the hang of the idea of taking an hour to get to a mission/quest location in an MMO is anything to write home about.)
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The paper should be a readable paper, with adverts for things in different zones, or news snippets about said zones.
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This seems like a totally different suggestion. Also, I thought you said these ideas were simple! So, that's an entire new UI needs creating, plus, these adverts need to point at something, so that's a load of new content to add. This is actually a very big, very complex suggestion you've hidden away as a simple line of text!
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Things that will entice people, get them interesting in a zone, not just make it the next place within level range for x, y and z missions and the obligatory bank run.
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Me, I think the first game to put something like the GM/Rikti/Zombie scaling code in across all areas so that you can actually level anywhere with anything and feel like you're facing a challenge will be the next clever idea. When that happens, your idea will come into play.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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Some rather simple (in theory, at least -eyeroll- ) ideas
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That line was added in *just* for you, Birdy 
And yes, Rikti Code with a bit of tweaking across the whole game would make things, at least in my opnion, better.
For example, there is no difference, at the basest level, between a Hellion ganger and a Malta agent. Their both still human. HOWEVER, one has had military spec ops level training, better equipment and suchnot, while one doesnt. That would have to be taken into account, but, still, I think that code is a way forward. *A* way...
In regards to arcs, like I said, hopefully MA will add much more flavour to that. -fingers crossed-
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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I'm starting to come to the depressing conclusion that MA will be a big flop.
Why?
Because it can't possibly meet all the expectations people are heaping on it. 
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
I expect to be able to make my own mini-arcs. Nothing more, nothing less.
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I expect to be able to make my own mini-arcs. Nothing more, nothing less.
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^
Agreed.
Why would Aardy be a big flop? 
Rabbits & Hares:Blue (Mind/Emp Controller)Maroon (Rad/Thermal Corruptor)and one of each AT all at 50
MA Arcs: Apples of Contention - 3184; Zen & Relaxation - 35392; Tears of Leviathan - 121733 | All posts are rated "R" for "R-r-rrrrr, baby!"|Now, and this is very important... do you want a hug? COH Faces @Blue Rabbit
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I'm starting to come to the depressing conclusion that MA will be a big flop.
Why?
Because it can't possibly meet all the expectations people are heaping on it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Don't worry - I'm guessing that the only people with expectations that you know about are those who post on the forums.
Going off what we;ve been told before, we forum posters are easily in the minority of players. But when MA lands I'd guess that all players will become aware of it through the loader screen if nothing else.
i.e. I'd guess that there are lots of people who will dabble with MA who haven't really thought about it yet. They'll probably be quite pleased with whatever you can do... the main ones upset will be the forumites who've heard a bit about it months ago and have spent time since then designing their 20-part arc involving unique maps and AI!
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)
We have been told we won't have map design. you will just select the kind of map it random picks i think (so warehouse/lab/etc.
I know - you know - a lot know.
You also can't have a 20-part arc afaik (seem to recall a 5 mission limit or somesuch).
But it won't stop some people coming up with ideas that they plan to make which are impossible in the MA, such as a 20-part arc using unique maps and new AI.
Personally I'm amazed that anyone has been planning any missions/arcs (past a very basic concept) when we know so little about the MAs capabilities. When the darn thing hits beta then that's the time to start fleshing out ideas for missions...
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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Personally I'm amazed that anyone has been planning any missions/arcs (past a very basic concept) when we know so little about the MAs capabilities. When the darn thing hits beta then that's the time to start fleshing out ideas for missions...
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Totally agree. And yet, I know perfectly sensible people who are doing it.
What you're forgetting about that small minority who ready the forums, however, is that they are loud, and get to post at the devs. (No, not us, the Americans.)
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
-Grumbles about the Americans. At length-
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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[ QUOTE ]
Why would Aardy be a big flop?
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That's what I want to know!!!
Seriously though, I don't think the Mission Architect will be a flop, but that's just my own opinion and thus can be disregarded by those who know that their own opinion equates to reality, as per usual.
"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
The thing I am fearing most with the MA is that they announced that it wont work like a normal mission reward wise. I want to be able to level up to 50 with the MA missions only.
See, that's not a problem for me. I'm far more interested in the stories that people write than the rewards you get for it.
I suspect that puts me in the minority (since for most game players effort MUST equal some sort of obvious rewards), but I think that's what the MA is all about - story, universe lore explansion and just gorram good fun.
You'll have comedy, you'll have drama, you've have really, really awful stories and then you'll get your tightly woven epics, which manage to tell a whole lot of story in just 5 missions.
I'm looking forward to reading and taking part in it all.
"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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Some rather simple (in theory, at least -eyeroll- ) ideas, simply to give a few more jumpy moments to the game.
<snip>
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We could also ask devs to shamelessly steal from another upcoming MMO and move some of the street mobs indoors:
into non-instanced, timed, dynamically spawned (when someone gets close enough to an unused door) mini-missions (like the side missions in safeguards/mayhems).
I do not suffer from altitis, I enjoy every character of it.
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The thing I am fearing most with the MA is that they announced that it wont work like a normal mission reward wise. I want to be able to level up to 50 with the MA missions only.
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Problem there is that people will simply use it to farm Family or Freaks, ad infinatum, or use them to get certain badges really easily, totally negating the point of the thing. They either need to dissalow that, which they say will be so, or spend an unrealistic ammount of time moderating each and every mission that goes up there.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
|
[ QUOTE ]
Problem there is that people will simply use it to farm Family or Freaks, ad infinatum, or use them to get certain badges really easily, totally negating the point of the thing. They either need to dissalow that, which they say will be so, or spend an unrealistic ammount of time moderating each and every mission that goes up there.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not true.
If MA can be used to create farms as you describe then I have no problem with people doing that for their own use, as long as there's a way to identify and avoid these for people who don't want farm maps.
Some people will always farm. It doesn't really affect anyone who doesn't want to farm, so why stop them if that's what they want to do for their idea of fun?
The simple fact that you object means, I presume, that you wouldn't use MA this way. Neither would I. Nor would many others. So the system won't be 'abused' (if indeed it is an abuse) by everyone.
The best bet, as I say above, is to have a good MA tagging and search interface - so that if you want farms you can find them easily and if you don't want farms you can avoid them just as easily.
Tbh if it takes a dev 2 weeks to create a good indexing/tagging/search system for MA then that could be the best possible 2 weeks development for the future of MA. i.e. if people can't search easily and just get semi-random missions then MA could fall in to relative disuse compared to how it could be used with a good search.
Think of it like trying to use the web with no search functionality - so no google et al, no wikis... A good search engine could easily make or break MA.
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)
[ QUOTE ]
See, that's not a problem for me. I'm far more interested in the stories that people write than the rewards you get for it.
I suspect that puts me in the minority (since for most game players effort MUST equal some sort of obvious rewards), but I think that's what the MA is all about - story, universe lore explansion and just gorram good fun.
You'll have comedy, you'll have drama, you've have really, really awful stories and then you'll get your tightly woven epics, which manage to tell a whole lot of story in just 5 missions.
I'm looking forward to reading and taking part in it all.
[/ QUOTE ]
So am I, so am I. I don;t want any special rewards. Just the normal xp/inf stuff I would normally get. Because yes I think that there will be some very nice MA missions out there and it would be a break using these instead of the normal contacts.
Could someone explain what makes a 'farming map?'
My real problem with 'farming' is that I find it tedious. It's not what I play games for. (That said, I levelled Nitoichi in the latter stages by 'farming' Borea's instanced missions. An hour of those was two bars, with a bit of variety, she never broke a sweat. Over a level a week at 40-50 isn't bad in my book, and it was even in character for Ni.)
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Problem there is that people will simply use it to farm Family or Freaks, ad infinatum, or use them to get certain badges really easily, totally negating the point of the thing. They either need to dissalow that, which they say will be so, or spend an unrealistic ammount of time moderating each and every mission that goes up there.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not true.
If MA can be used to create farms as you describe then I have no problem with people doing that for their own use, as long as there's a way to identify and avoid these for people who don't want farm maps.
Some people will always farm. It doesn't really affect anyone who doesn't want to farm, so why stop them if that's what they want to do for their idea of fun?
The simple fact that you object means, I presume, that you wouldn't use MA this way. Neither would I. Nor would many others. So the system won't be 'abused' (if indeed it is an abuse) by everyone.
The best bet, as I say above, is to have a good MA tagging and search interface - so that if you want farms you can find them easily and if you don't want farms you can avoid them just as easily.
Tbh if it takes a dev 2 weeks to create a good indexing/tagging/search system for MA then that could be the best possible 2 weeks development for the future of MA. i.e. if people can't search easily and just get semi-random missions then MA could fall in to relative disuse compared to how it could be used with a good search.
Think of it like trying to use the web with no search functionality - so no google et al, no wikis... A good search engine could easily make or break MA.
[/ QUOTE ]
Totally agree here. Farmers already can farm their hearts out. But now they can get their beloved freak farms from lvl 1 to 50. Fine for them it is of no interest to me. I like interesting NEW stroyarcs and stories. I have done the old missions time and again and I welcome the idea of new opportunities this brings.
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freak farms from lvl 1 to 50
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I doubt Freaks scale that low. If they want to try to farm Freak maps full of level 20s at level 1, then good luck to them. I'm sure there's another mob that fits the bill at lower levels.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
[ QUOTE ]
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freak farms from lvl 1 to 50
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I doubt Freaks scale that low. If they want to try to farm Freak maps full of level 20s at level 1, then good luck to them.
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I take it you have't done hollows arcs or visited the sewers or Perez in a long time then - certainly down to lvl 5.
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
[ QUOTE ]
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Problem there is that people will simply use it to farm Family or Freaks, ad infinatum, or use them to get certain badges really easily, totally negating the point of the thing. They either need to dissalow that, which they say will be so, or spend an unrealistic ammount of time moderating each and every mission that goes up there.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not true.
If MA can be used to create farms as you describe then I have no problem with people doing that for their own use, as long as there's a way to identify and avoid these for people who don't want farm maps.
Some people will always farm. It doesn't really affect anyone who doesn't want to farm, so why stop them if that's what they want to do for their idea of fun?
The simple fact that you object means, I presume, that you wouldn't use MA this way. Neither would I. Nor would many others. So the system won't be 'abused' (if indeed it is an abuse) by everyone.
The best bet, as I say above, is to have a good MA tagging and search interface - so that if you want farms you can find them easily and if you don't want farms you can avoid them just as easily.
Tbh if it takes a dev 2 weeks to create a good indexing/tagging/search system for MA then that could be the best possible 2 weeks development for the future of MA. i.e. if people can't search easily and just get semi-random missions then MA could fall in to relative disuse compared to how it could be used with a good search.
Think of it like trying to use the web with no search functionality - so no google et al, no wikis... A good search engine could easily make or break MA.
[/ QUOTE ]
Totally agree here. Farmers already can farm their hearts out. But now they can get their beloved freak farms from lvl 1 to 50. Fine for them it is of no interest to me. I like interesting NEW stroyarcs and stories. I have done the old missions time and again and I welcome the idea of new opportunities this brings.
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The Devs won't do it though, for the simple reason that the majority of the City may as well simply not exist, then. I know its no perfect arguement, and one I dont really agree with either, but being able to go from 1-50 like that is, presumably, what they want to avoid. /Assumption.
Agree with the need for a decent search feature, definately.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
|
Well, as far as the MA goes, I'm happy to see what happens. My SG has discussed a few ideas that we're putting together for it, to encourage its use, grab whatever badges there are for those that want them, but to also expand upon our SG's history a bit, and to also give it a bit of a continuous 'story'.
As for the OP's other suggestions - I really like the newspaper idea. If we can stand and listen to 'current events' on a police scanner, why can't we listen to 'events we've missed' in the paper. Get did of the announcements of SOME events, then you can have things like "Strange monster spotted in lake of Crotoa. Heroes removed the threat, but locals suspect it will return".
[B][COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]@Winter Flare[/COLOR] - [url="http://sites.google.com/site/thenewguardians"] The New Guardians[/url] - [url="http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?/page/view_player.php?id=339"] 1211 Badges [/url][/B]
Some rather simple (in theory, at least -eyeroll- ) ideas, simply to give a few more jumpy moments to the game.
-Take the text and any warnings of ambushes out. They are NOT ambushes at present, they are delayed assaults. An ambush is where you walk around a corner and come nose to nose with ten, black painted Arachnos assault rifles, with a Crab Spider Webmasters at the back with all guns raised, the Wolf Spiders leering down the sights at you and at least one of them going, in a graty voice; "'Ello treacle..."
Not; "You wont get away, Agent Suchandsuch!" from halfway across the map, through walls and all. Or a handy note in the mission title saying "Fend off Arachnos ambush".
-More touches like the Stranded Women in the Hollows. One of the few neat little touches that got added, rather than unnecessary mobs like the Skulls. Things that make it feel like a Heroic thing, or a trap to be overcome.
-Instead of radio/paper missions, ad nauseam, give generated arcs that, although minor, at least have some sort of point to them, I appreciate that someons got to come up with them, but thats part of hte point, isnt it? Not a cut and paste mission over and over and OVER again. Throw in a few proper ambushes, a few little interesting twists, stuff like that. Hopefully this might be resolved with Architecht, but I guess we'll need to see.
-Make it easier to get around in Paragon so that people can actually investigate more of the stuff that doesnt normally get touched. The paper should be a readable paper, with adverts for things in different zones, or news snippets about said zones. Things that will entice people, get them interesting in a zone, not just make it the next place within level range for x, y and z missions and the obligatory bank run.
More Variety! Add some life to the city! Add a few shopfronts, with people coming and going, add some schools or something. For a City, Paragon lacks in just about everything. YES it should be focussed on the Heroes and Villains, because thats what we play, but the only time it sort of feels like a believable place is when RP'ed as such, and events chain up a bit. If you walk down a street or anything, it doesnt feel alive. It just feels...wierd.
Anyway, end rant. -returns brain to tub of Dettol-