Mission Architect for Soloists

I'd love to hear other people's impressions of how well (or badly) the Mission architect caters for solo players...

I think the MA is a great addition and works really well for groups, however in my experience it is nowhere near as good for soloists as the standard mission arcs (except that it's fresh content of course). Oh, BTW before someone says "What do you mean, can't solo six EBs at once?" -- no, I'm not an uber kitted level 50.

There are a number of factors for that reduce solo playability:
<ul type="square">[*]Boss mobs only scale down so much. An elite boss against a three man group is not an issue (although the gratuitous overuse of triggered ambushes from him can be). However an elite boss with a supporting group is going to wipe most solos.[*]There is no way to tell which arcs are suitable for solos unless the mission creator has added something like "suitable for soloists" or "contains no EBs" in the freeform text -- and most authors don't.[/list]This hurts everyone:
<ul type="square">[*]Soloists (like me, most of the time, and like my fellow SG members most of the time) get disheartened by the MA and start to see it not as a positive feature but as a negative one... simply sapping the black market/Wentworth's of its supply of salvage.[*]Mission designers who've produced wonderful group arcs get slated by soloists because they're not soloable. As I wrote on the feedback section after ending a mission on day one "I'm a stalker. You have an EB, a Lieutenant and five minions in the first room. This is unsoloable, ONE STAR".[/list]I just hope some red name is reading this. What my SG needs is an indication in the mission browser of whether the mission is soloable or not. Either as a field the designer fills in and we can sort on OR by programmatic analysis of the content of the mission.

I can't be alone in this, surely?

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I'd love to hear other people's impressions of how well (or badly) the Mission architect caters for solo players...

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I think the MA is fine. It's just people going a little overboard with their shiny new toy now in the beginning. I expect we'll see less EB and AV spawns and more soloable arches once the "interest of the new" has waned a bit.

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I'd love to hear other people's impressions of how well (or badly) the Mission architect caters for solo players...

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My dm/shield scrapper (now level 15) is doing VERY well for himself, in total has made roughly 26 million from the MA solo (which is enough to set me straight for a good while).

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Oh, BTW before someone says "What do you mean, can't solo six EBs at once?" -- no, I'm not an uber kitted level 50.

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I 100% agree with you in that any mission that is designed to test your characters limits should be designated in the arc description or it will get rated down.

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Boss mobs only scale down so much. An elite boss against a three man group is not an issue (although the gratuitous overuse of triggered ambushes from him can be). However an elite boss with a supporting group is going to wipe most solos.

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Do EBs scale down to boss/lieuts? Only asking because so far i havent faced one in an arc yet (low level), only custom bosses which (sadly) did scale down to lieuts. Im hoping they dont (unless on heroic) since they are designed to be the "best of the worst" in a mission and designed to be a challenge. If however like you say, there is a large support group surrounding it and there isnt a description saying "tough EB at end, bring friends", then that'll lose it some ratings.

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There is no way to tell which arcs are suitable for solos unless the mission creator has added something like "suitable for soloists" or "contains no EBs" in the freeform text -- and most authors don't.

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The way i see it at the moment is to type in "low level" into the search and the best arcs will appear (they usually have good descriptions). Also typing in your security level enemy groups (skulls/goldbrickers) brings up arcs with them in. Tend to find this is the best method to find arcs that are decent enough, though of course you will come across 1/2 arcs that are poor.

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Mission designers who've produced wonderful group arcs get slated by soloists because they're not soloable. As I wrote on the feedback section after ending a mission on day one "I'm a stalker. You have an EB, a Lieutenant and five minions in the first room. This is unsoloable, ONE STAR".

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I think you was being a bit too harsh personally, perhaps stating something like "VERY hard to solo, needs a better arc description to state the difficulty to get a higher rating/not to mislead players" would have been a better method.

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I just hope some red name is reading this. What my SG needs is an indication in the mission browser of whether the mission is soloable or not. Either as a field the designer fills in

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^^^ Very good idea.

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I can't be alone in this, surely?

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Only if you solo

I solo MA most of the times. In fact I am on a quest to level up a toon from 1 to 50 with MA content only. Living on tickets and influence gained from playing. Smartly, I am using a ss/wp brute for this. Because a lot of mobs out there are indeed overpowered.

The hardest part is indeed finding arcs interesting enough to play and soloable. For that reason I started the threat good arcs to level up from 1 to 50 (I need level 17+ arcs now please).

Luckily, Eb's scale down and when i see an AV in the description then that is for me a sign not to bother.I also always check the level range of the missions. Making sure that I don't have to scale to much up or down during play.

Finally when I encounter an arc from a known European that has to hard custom mobs, then I let them know and dispense my rating. For those I cannot reach with a comment, I will have to bring the message into another way. Either with a 1 if the mission was generally rubbish as well, or a 2 if the mission was bad but at least the author tried to make it into something or it could be redeemed.

I tried to make my Lucy's Nightmare soloable for anybody but if there's not at least one AV/EB in an arc you get slated for making it too easy. I added an ally as an EB to help squishier characters out, that of course makes it a lot easier for melee toons so you can't win really. I managed to solo it with my high level blaster but the mobs I created do a lot of fire damage (and she has a lovely fire shield) so might not be too easy for every AT. Also, since nobody has actually played the thing and given me any feedback I have no idea if it's too tough or otherwise

EB's do actually scale down to bosses, AV's scale to EB's, so you're really seeing people going silly with AV's

EBs scale down to Bosses on Villainous. You shouldn't complain about arcs being unsoloable if you're making them harder for yourself on purpose.

Now, if the EB is impossible even when downranked to Boss, then you have a valid complaint.

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EBs scale down to Bosses on Villainous. You shouldn't complain about arcs being unsoloable if you're making them harder for yourself on purpose.

Now, if the EB is impossible even when downranked to Boss, then you have a valid complaint.

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Happened to me this morning. I must admit, i tried them with a AR/DEv, arguably one of the worst solo AT's. I did send the author my reply without rating.

What GS said, although I use double-rad defender and I'm not playing him exclusively in MA.

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The hardest part is indeed finding arcs interesting enough to play and soloable. For that reason I started the threat good arcs to level up from 1 to 50 (I need level 17+ arcs now please).

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*cough* Fighting off the Blackguards, ID: 96201 (Heroes, lvl. 15-20) *cough* Soloable, without an EB in sight.

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I added an ally as an EB to help squishier characters out, that of course makes it a lot easier for melee toons so you can't win really

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I mentioned about people putting in strong allies on the MA channel earlier and i must admit, im not really one for the + column about it. Anything above a lieut as an ally is too strong for a MA mission, especially if its a custom made one.

Take for example this: Earlier i was in a mission and was able to rescue 2 allies, one troll and one custom. The troll wasnt doing too much damage but enough that it was helping me (positive), the custom was 2 shotting everything in sight and thus reducing my rewards GREATLY (negative).

If the allies fit the storyline as a strong hero then great, however at the moment it does feel like they're put in just as a "ooo shiny" feature If a mission is too tough the player NEEDS anything from boss and above as an ally then i feel the mission needs toning down a bit.

^^ The above is the opinion of damien and damien only.

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The hardest part is indeed finding arcs interesting enough to play and soloable. For that reason I started the threat good arcs to level up from 1 to 50 (I need level 17+ arcs now please).

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*cough* Fighting off the Blackguards, ID: 96201 (Heroes, lvl. 15-20) *cough* Soloable, without an EB in sight.

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Will check it out soon then

But for those who want to contribute to the list: For solable leveling arcs.

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I added an ally as an EB to help squishier characters out, that of course makes it a lot easier for melee toons so you can't win really

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I mentioned about people putting in strong allies on the MA channel earlier and i must admit, im not really one for the + column about it. Anything above a lieut as an ally is too strong for a MA mission, especially if its a custom made one.

Take for example this: Earlier i was in a mission and was able to rescue 2 allies, one troll and one custom. The troll wasnt doing too much damage but enough that it was helping me (positive), the custom was 2 shotting everything in sight and thus reducing my rewards GREATLY (negative).


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Yes, be careful with adding help. Remember that while bosses tone down, allies don't! I have fought Bosses with multiple EB help. And that is a bit to much of a good thing.

Must admit I was a bit concerned about the strength of the ally. She needs to be there but if she's too weak she dies easily. Dying in your own dream isn't a great idea when you're supposed to have some semblence of control over it. I did try to experiment with toning the end AV/EB down to an EB/boss and reducing the ally to a boss or even a leiutenant just using healing/shield powers but the MA system is down again...would be handy if the ally scaled along with everything else though.

It's a toss up between having a decent boss for a melee toon to fight without making it impossible for a blaster or your average defender.

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Dying in your own dream isn't a great idea when you're supposed to have some semblence of control over it.

[/ QUOTE ]If your ego gets in the way when doing author insertion, maybe you shouldn't do it at all. Just a friendly tip here.

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Dying in your own dream isn't a great idea when you're supposed to have some semblence of control over it.

[/ QUOTE ]If your ego gets in the way when doing author insertion, maybe you shouldn't do it at all. Just a friendly tip here.

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Cant remember off the top of my head but are you able to insert dialog if the ally dies? (does it count as losing sight of him/her?)
Would make an interesting twist/dialog to have such low self confidence you have another hero save the day (thinking about scrubs when JD in his own daydream is the sk).

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Dying in your own dream isn't a great idea when you're supposed to have some semblence of control over it.

[/ QUOTE ]If your ego gets in the way when doing author insertion, maybe you shouldn't do it at all. Just a friendly tip here.

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Cant remember off the top of my head but are you able to insert dialog if the ally dies? (does it count as losing sight of him/her?)
Would make an interesting twist/dialog to have such low self confidence you have another hero save the day (thinking about scrubs when JD in his own daydream is the sk).

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Can't remember. The problem here though is that the 'ally' is more than just an ally. This is her dream and the player has been caught up in it. Letting her die would create some major complications.

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[*]Boss mobs only scale down so much. An elite boss against a three man group is not an issue (although the gratuitous overuse of triggered ambushes from him can be). However an elite boss with a supporting group is going to wipe most solos.

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Almost all arcs have warnings in the description if they contain EB/AV, i have only had to abandon a select few arcs because i could not manage it.

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[*]There is no way to tell which arcs are suitable for solos unless the mission creator has added something like "suitable for soloists" or "contains no EBs" in the freeform text -- and most authors don't.

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Maybe i just ignore the ones who dont explain that in the description but like i said, in my experience most arcs say in the description what kind of play they are intended for.

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[*]Mission designers who've produced wonderful group arcs get slated by soloists because they're not soloable. As I wrote on the feedback section after ending a mission on day one "I'm a stalker. You have an EB, a Lieutenant and five minions in the first room. This is unsoloable, ONE STAR".

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If there was no warning in the mish description about EB's or being a hard arc, then yeah i can agree with the one star. If there was a warning and you ignored it or did not read it well then that is your fault. My arc's description says it is challenging for a full team and contains AV's, and yet i had one player rate me 1 star for not being solo-able. I basicly replied he was an [censored] for even trying...

Now i agree that the MA fits teamplay well exept for the fact that rewards are much much better solo, and so far i have had relatively little problems with arcs being to hard. My main Ice/Cold corr plays arcs on 4th diff and with little problems. On other toons i play on lower diff. The only advice i can give is dont just click play on the first arc that shows up, look around on the other pages, dont go just on ratings, always read the descriptions carefully and look at the level ranges of the arc.

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EBs scale down to Bosses on Villainous. You shouldn't complain about arcs being unsoloable if you're making them harder for yourself on purpose.

Now, if the EB is impossible even when downranked to Boss, then you have a valid complaint.

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I always play non-MA mishes at challenge level 2 - because otherwise you end up fighting lieutenants (+minions) all the time and where's the challenge in that when I can one-shot them all? Therefore I set to the first difficulty above this.

I don't mind fighting bosses (with SMALL groups) and the end boss [u]occasionally[u] being an EB. That's what challenge level two gives you in the "real world". Indeed that is exactly what I've experienced throughout my vilainous (malicious) career in CoV. However, the option to specify a larger than normal group accompanying the boss is just a pain. Of course the effect of this differs by class - my scrapper could tear through a lot of such spawns, but my mid level dominator and stalker are affected far worse.

What I don't want is groups of all minions/lieutenants (boring!) or groups of EB and a full large group (impossible). Seems the settings are level 1 - too easy and level 2 too hard.

Choosing to play the game on the (optional) harder settings is a choice, as is mentioned in the game by relevant NPCs.

Bowing to popular opinion, I have reduced the ally to a lieutenant and adjusted her powers. I've chopped the two AV's down to EB's so they scale down to bosses and changed the single EB the arc had to a boss for the sake of continuity.

Hopefully that'll help make it more easily soloable without having the ally doing all the work while the player sits back and admires all the activity.

I've tried to make my Arc playable and enjoyable by both teams and soloists. It does state that it is solable in the description and even though it has an EB at the end he downgrades to a Boss on Heroic. I was able to solo the mission on my Grav/Emp Controller at level 50 on Heroic, but it is hard to be sure that your mission is enjoyable for all ranges and team sizes without lots of feedback.

I have to agree with the OP, the MA is not solo friendly.

Most custom groups in the MA have a lot of stun/toggle/holds etc, and for my characters without a countermeasure against that they basically get put out of comission (1 of the custom mobs just perma holds, the rest of them beats down on you).

And then theres the matter of EB's that have got an insane recovery rate, that puts my tanker (my main) out of comission because he just cant outdmg the boss.
Heck,I was on a solo mission arc yesterday and had the take down the end boss, who just kept running away and using mog, and I was on my peacebringer squid form and still couldn't outdmg his recovery.

When I say an arc is soloable, I mean it's soloable by a solo friendly AT, such as a scrapper, tanker, brute, MM or stalker.

If you can't solo a mission because your character has no mez protection, then tough. You wouldn't be able to solo some regular missions either.


Most MA story missions are more difficult than regular missions, and you may have to play on a lower difficulty setting than you are used to. This is good, the game is to easy.

Most missions don't have every minion able to induce mez though. Been trying some arcs on a lowbie and I can well see people didn't intentionaly made it hard, but anything martial arts rushes over and overhelms with the number of attacks with chance to stun. Same with EM, but lets not go into mobs with controller sets.

Now being a lowbie I've no reason to complain, custom mobs *are* strong and sticking to in-game factions works so much better because.. yes, they were tailored for lowbies. Other than the Lost we get no mezzes, damage comes at a slow steady rate because mobs have few attacks, etc.

But the truth is that not all sets are viable for NPCs and if people don't test their arcs with different ATs they won't even notice that fact. Cue in everything with mez toggles and a controller trying to solo. Or even in a team.

I've also noted a bug when soloing MA's (Which I reported but nothing has been done against) I play a Squishy controller. Before I've had no real difficulty soloing by using blind as cc and phantom army on the really big groups. In MA though I have to search for missions without any costom mobs at all. Why? My blind isn't working as it should with custom mobs. It works fine on meele mobs, but all ranged mob s are still happily fiering away with deadly accuracy even when blinded. My boyfriend have had the same issue with his cc power(he plays blaster). And another issue on the same notes custom characters are much better aimers than normal mobs.

For me the trouble is most people do like to use custom groups making it nearly impossible finding arcs without them, and especially finding good arcs.