Issue 14 Closed Beta starts today
By
3dent,
Posted on: 2009-02-13 20:46 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Bovine . . . . . im playing your arcs ok 
@Damz Find me on the global channel Union Chat. One of the best "chat channels" ingame!
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As someone who has been active in a few other modding communities, I think those of you being so blasé about the Mission Architect are underestimating the creativity that is unleashed when people are freed from having to design to market expectations and corporate guidelines. Oh, you'll no doubt get some truly infantile drek as well, but I expect to be pleasantly surprised by a good number... in particular, that screen shot at the wiki reveals an intriguing "Placement" option. If that does what I think/hope it does, sets the placement of spawns and ambushes etc on maps, I can already envision the following at least;
* Running to a supermarket (Radio mission map) and then holding off huge hordes of the Undead a-la Night Of The Living Dead with a temporary shotgun power
* Missions to find "Transformers", Malta robots triggered from under cars on the landscape?
* Mass NPC v NPC battles (they can already fight), which you can affect by fighting alongside them at certain locations to kill opposing generals; victory or defeat conditions set by losing too many leaders amongst the mobs
* Trials of Strength; each room having a progressively harder amount of spawn.
* "Amusing" jokes... An arc devoted purely to all those great CoH times past; on one map, all the spawn is already inside the skips, just for you tankers! And everything in the inevitable cave map is either clipped into the walls, or hiding in the roof of That Damned Multilevel Bit.
And that's just off the top of my head... So yeah, wait and see guys, I have rather more faith in the dedicated fans than perhaps you do. And unlike in some games, you'll be able to easily integrate and access this content to your own experiences too.
Also... you have NO IDEA how many cow-related puns I'm planning for my moo-gnum opus.... muahaha!
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If your missions appeal to farmers, they'll milk them till the cows come home.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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If that does what I think/hope it does, sets the placement of spawns and ambushes etc on maps, I can already envision the following at least;
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Some nice ideas there, but I think I read somewhere over on the US boards that enemies will spawn at the preset points for the map that's used. 
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I read that too and lost a bit of interest in the MA as a consequence. I was hoping we'd be able to overcome some of the generic aspects of CoX missions with the MA, but it looks like it'll be fairly limited in that respect. Which is a shame.
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. Even if tiny 0.1% of arcs would be any good, that's still dozens, maybe hundreds of good ones. Finding them might ber a problem though, look at any fanfiction site...
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Arent we able to give the missions a grade?
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Which means that anyone with a load of mates will rapidly raise to the top while some unknown genius stays at the bottom of the ratings. Asking a community to rate almost always turns into a popularity contest. Some genuinely good ones will raise to the top, but the majority will get there due to "I have to vote my mate up"
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. Even if tiny 0.1% of arcs would be any good, that's still dozens, maybe hundreds of good ones. Finding them might ber a problem though, look at any fanfiction site...
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Arent we able to give the missions a grade?
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Which means that anyone with a load of mates will rapidly raise to the top while some unknown genius stays at the bottom of the ratings. Asking a community to rate almost always turns into a popularity contest. Some genuinely good ones will raise to the top, but the majority will get there due to "I have to vote my mate up"
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Excessive voting up OR down will be looked at by the devs (more likely to be GM's) in case of abuse. They've already said this a few times... As long as they keep to their word on that, it shouldn't get too bad.
I also suspect that places like the Titan Gaming Network will do reviews of player content, so will be a prime place for finding the good ones.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Excessive voting up OR down will be looked at by the devs
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If there are any left by then.
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I also suspect that places like the Titan Gaming Network will do reviews of player content, so will be a prime place for finding the good ones.
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I would be more willing to believe the ratings from titan than any sort of player driven rating system.
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. Even if tiny 0.1% of arcs would be any good, that's still dozens, maybe hundreds of good ones. Finding them might ber a problem though, look at any fanfiction site...
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Arent we able to give the missions a grade?
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Which means that anyone with a load of mates will rapidly raise to the top while some unknown genius stays at the bottom of the ratings. Asking a community to rate almost always turns into a popularity contest. Some genuinely good ones will raise to the top, but the majority will get there due to "I have to vote my mate up"
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Excessive voting up OR down will be looked at by the devs (more likely to be GM's) in case of abuse. They've already said this a few times... As long as they keep to their word on that, it shouldn't get too bad.
I also suspect that places like the Titan Gaming Network will do reviews of player content, so will be a prime place for finding the good ones.
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Yep, I think good ones will get plenty of community plugging, regardless of who published them. In fact I wouldn't be surprised to see a Titan site devoted to Mission Architect missions popping up.
After finishing the Dark Watcher arc on Friday with my SG I do hope we can make interesting end of mission bits like that, with a constant stream of ambushes. Makes it far more interesting than just hitting the big bag of Hit Points until it falls over.
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After finishing the Dark Watcher arc on Friday with my SG I do hope we can make interesting end of mission bits like that, with a constant stream of ambushes. Makes it far more interesting than just hitting the big bag of Hit Points until it falls over.
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How about a stream of ambushes with an AV in each one, set on a timer so if you aren't fast enough you get multiple AV's kicking your butt?
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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After finishing the Dark Watcher arc on Friday with my SG I do hope we can make interesting end of mission bits like that, with a constant stream of ambushes. Makes it far more interesting than just hitting the big bag of Hit Points until it falls over.
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How about a stream of ambushes with an AV in each one, set on a timer so if you aren't fast enough you get multiple AV's kicking your butt?
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Poor buggers would probably end up getting farmed
If it had a reasonable timer on it this could be great fun. Just normal ambushes (with bosses) forcing the team to fight on two fronts really adds to the chaos (or maybe we were just a particularly chaotic team Good fun though).
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If it had a reasonable timer on it this could be great fun. Just normal ambushes (with bosses) forcing the team to fight on two fronts really adds to the chaos (or maybe we were just a particularly chaotic team Good fun though).
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Well, depending on what the MA lets us do, this sort of thing is planned for one of my arcs. 
But it won't exactly be farmable, as you'll have to do the rest of the arc first!
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Instead of a timer how about positional ambushes? As you pass each part it sets off an alarm that comes to get you. Getting tougher and tougher as you go along until the final room that has 2 AVs summoning a GM. Don't take them in time and hello GM. 
I am sort of looking forward to creating missions I just hope that it can keep up with my expectations.
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Being in marketing, you clearly believe in selling people tripe.
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Can you please try , just try to avoid making insulting coments like this?
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It wasn't intended as an insult. The marketing people I know pride themseleves in thier ability to sell snow to eskimos.
I really should do something about this signature.
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Instead of a timer how about positional ambushes? As you pass each part it sets off an alarm that comes to get you. Getting tougher and tougher as you go along until the final room that has 2 AVs summoning a GM. Don't take them in time and hello GM.
I am sort of looking forward to creating missions I just hope that it can keep up with my expectations.
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Also something I've been considering.. Depends on if you can make your own GM or not, really!
Although summoning Lusca on a 2 man team would be pretty funny...
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Being in marketing, you clearly believe in selling people tripe.
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Can you please try , just try to avoid making insulting coments like this?
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It wasn't intended as an insult. The marketing people I know pride themseleves in thier ability to sell snow to eskimos.
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That's Sales, not Marketing
Always remember the Marketing motto : "We're not screwing the customer. We're just holding them down while Sales screw em" (nicked from Dilbert)
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Although summoning Lusca on a 2 man team would be pretty funny..
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That would be funny.
player 1: Well those AV's were tough. it can't get any harder
player 2: wanna... kin.. bet.. ?
Lusca: rrraaaaaagghhhhhhh!!!!!!
Player 1: oh sh......
Well, I stand corrected. Can't argue with Dilbert.
I really should do something about this signature.
My big concern is that the MA database won't be purple...
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Although summoning Lusca on a 2 man team would be pretty funny..
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That would be funny.
player 1: Well those AV's were tough. it can't get any harder
player 2: wanna... kin.. bet.. ?
Lusca: rrraaaaaagghhhhhhh!!!!!!
Player 1: oh sh......
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Indeed!
Important note for anyone playing any arcs I may happen to create. I *am* going to kill you, in several interesting ways...
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Although summoning Lusca on a 2 man team would be pretty funny..
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That would be funny.
player 1: Well those AV's were tough. it can't get any harder
player 2: wanna... kin.. bet.. ?
Lusca: rrraaaaaagghhhhhhh!!!!!!
Player 1: oh sh......
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Indeed!
Important note for anyone playing any arcs I may happen to create. I *am* going to kill you, in several interesting ways...
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Oh yeah.
"How do sort out the good from the evil? Kill em all and let god sort it out"
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Oh yeah.
"How do sort out the good from the evil? Kill em all and let god sort it out"
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I prefer..
"How do you sort out the good from the evil?
Who cares!? Just shove 'em through the meatgrinder anyway."
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Just make sure you give a couple of the AVs malta Sapper powers. And maybe make the others do psi damge and -def.
I really should do something about this signature.
Not read the rest of the thread yet...
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The idea for the arch nemesis came from non other than our own Positron.
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Yes arch foes have been with us since year dot. But I'm pretty sure you knew I was referring to a super hero MMO context.
And I am unaware of any MMO anywhere that incoroporates that type of system.
And Ide be surprised if the AI to achieve any sophisticated "archfoe" gameplay was available until fairly recently.
Please tell me I didnt have to say.. "the first person in the MMO superhero arena to suggest and want an arch enemy system was our very own Positron."
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No - you didn't need to be that specific, the point I was trying to make would still stand.
The idea of an arch-enemy/nemesis system is a fairly obvious extension for anyone making a hero game (MMO or not).
You stated that Posi had come up with the idea as if he'd had a real brainwave (i.e. of a non-obvious variety) that was now being copied/stolen/borrowed by the competition. They aren't doing this as, even if they were unaware.
Now there are ideas that wouldn't be obvious and are worth holding close to the devs chest until launched on the public (well - at beta time anyway). For example, if no game had ever had an auction house/consignment house/market then that might be seen as a less obvious development for a game and would be worth keeping quiet about until ready.
I say it'd be less obvious as when developing a game in a certain genre it could be fairly easy to get locked into the genres literary and gaming history - I can't think of many heroes (in any prior heroic works) trading at markets, even though in everyday life it may not seem odd in these days of ebay and co. So I think that creating markets/auctions within a game was possibly a darn good idea that wasn't obvious. Of course, this may not be the best example, but it's the first one that came to mind that I thought would work...
We've not been told that much about I14 yet. And we know virtually nothing about I15+... so maybe, just maybe, the devs have had some non-obvious ideas for extension and their waiting to announce them when:
a - they know the idea can be coded so it works
b - the opposition have shown their initial hand and don't have enough time left to develop their own similar system to launch near CoX's
Oh and btw:
We don't know that the MA enemies/archenemies/nemeses will use sophisticated AI - I'd guess that it may still be pretty dumb but instead of a fixed set of behaviours for dev created big bads it'll use templates of behaviours for powersets. I'd guess that both MA and CO wil use something along these lines - it won't be a new AI engine that analyses available powers, relative positions and known/estimated resistance/defensive factors/buffs/debuffs. i.e. it'll still be relatively dumb compared to a human.
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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That would be funny.
player 1: Well those AV's were tough. it can't get any harder
player 2: wanna... kin.. bet.. ?
Lusca: rrraaaaaagghhhhhhh!!!!!!
Player 1: oh sh......
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after beating Lusca up... ( LOL )
player1: Listen, do you remember, does MA allow you to spawn Hamidon?
player 2: Only LGTF version, IIRC...
healthy Hamidon: Surprise! Yellow Dawn is BAAACK!
Quick question... Does MA allow you to make your own maps (a la Base Editor) or can you only use ones that are already in-game?
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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If that does what I think/hope it does, sets the placement of spawns and ambushes etc on maps, I can already envision the following at least;
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Some nice ideas there, but I think I read somewhere over on the US boards that enemies will spawn at the preset points for the map that's used.